Weakness
by YamiHeart
Summary: Tired of no one ever beating the Pharaoh, Azrael decides to attack the one and only weakness the spirit has: Yugi. Will Yugi die before Yami beats the twisted game Azrael has set up, or will a little girl from Ryo's past save him from death? NO YAOI.
1. Chapter 1

_Um...hi! :D_

_Sarah: Do you have issues or something finishing stories you've already started?_

_*~* Maybe...LOOK! I try alright? This idea just came to my head so I wanted to write it. Can you just do the disclaimer for me?_

_Sarah: Hmph. Whatever. YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh. And if she did, she would make YouTube stop shutting down LK's channels and episodes!_

_That is 100% true. Please enjoy._

* * *

He stood on a balcony, the wind blowing his long, sleek black hair and black velvet cape. He looked up at the stars and the moon and awed at their beauty. He could do a lot of things, but make such beautiful treasures suspend from the sky for all to see wasn't one of his abilities.

To anyone who didn't know the man, they would say he was a normal teenage boy with a lot on his mind. The very few people who did know Azrael knew he was actually a couple thousand year old creature with immense powers. These same people knew that the look on his face meant that he was bored and wanted to wreak havoc.

"What to do, what to do…?" He asked aloud.

Then, a thought hit him.

He smiled and commanded the shadows to twist into a portal to allow him to see the mortal world. He pinpointed his view to the quaint Game Shop in the busy city of Domino. Like a video game, Azrael moved the camera around to find what he was looking for. His view went through the front door and up a flight of stairs to a little room in which a boy sat on his bed, looking at the ceiling, unaware of the ancient spirit's prying eyes.

"I'm exhausted…" said the boy, his pointy, tri-colored hair one of his most predominant features. Azrael had seen hair like it before, but on a slightly different looking individual.

As if on cue, a transparent figure with similar hair sat on the end of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest. The figures eyes were much sharper than the ones the child on the bed had and he had an air about him that only royalty could ever brag about owning. Azrael smiled.

"Well, we never expected Battle City to be easy…" The ghost said with a worried smile.

"True…but I'm glad it's over, especially our last duel with Marik."

Azrael's smile faltered when he recalled the duel. He had watched it and was quite amused with Marik's strategy of connecting the two vessel's souls with their dominant soul's life points. Azrael was confident in Marik's win until Rishid came and gave the vessel Marik his confidence back. The win for the Pharaoh had truly pissed him off, especially when Marik had been so close. It got Azrael thinking: Where was the biggest flaw in Marik's plan?

Azrael looked at the Pharaoh and saw the look of worry that had crossed his face as the ancient spirit recalled how he had almost lost his little aibou's soul.

"_Wait…" _Azrael thought. _"Maybe I'm onto something here…"_

You could ask Azrael a million times why he hated the nameless Pharaoh so much and he'd give you the same answer every time: no one could beat him. It bothered the shit out of Azrael that there was a man that no one could find the weak point for, and so he made it his goal to find the weakness before anyone else.

"I think I'm going to take a nap." The little boy on the bed said as he got under his covers.

The spirit got up from the end of the bed and walked over to his vessel. The young boy had fallen asleep right away, but the look of worry had not come off the Pharaoh's face. Azrael zoomed closer to the scene and listened as the spirit mumbled quietly,

"I'm so sorry Yugi. I wish you weren't always put in constant danger because of me but…" Azrael was shocked to see the spirit put his hands down to his side in violently shaking fists. "I promise Yugi, I promise with all my heart that no more harm will come to you."

Azrael smiled wickedly as a nasty idea formed in his head. He started to quietly laugh as he zoomed out of the boy's room and looked at the whole Earth. The Pharaoh shot his head up at the noise, but dismissed it as nothing as he faded back into the puzzle.

* * *

"Portal. Show me Yugi Mutou and his friend's past." Azrael commanded his shadow mirror.

Azrael watched as visions of the past zoomed in front of him showing happy scenes with the young boy and his friends. Azrael's mouth opened in shock as he realized something.

"I…I… it can't be true!" Azrael exclaimed. "I can't believe I never saw this before! He_ is_ the weakness! Not only the Pharaoh's, but all his friends too!"

Azrael continued to watch as his assumption continued to be proved correct time and time again. Azrael continued to see very strong willed people weakened by some little child with no self confidence or strength. Azrael couldn't help but ask: _Why? Why do they care?_

Then, another question popped into his head: _What if Yugi was just taken away?_

"Yes…what if I just killed him? Disposed of him? What would all those people do without this little midget?"

The wheels started turning in Azrael's head when a little voice distracted him from his evil plotting.

"Please don't." The little girl said, on the verge of tears. "He's a good person. Don't hurt him."

Azrael turned around to see a little girl with long, blonde hair in a soft-purple silk night gown. She was holding a teddy bear in her left arm and was wiping her glazed-over eyes with the other. Yes, the little girl was blind. But, at the same time she could see better than anyone else in the entire world.

Azrael sighed. This little girl was the reason he refused to believe someone out there didn't have a weak point. He kneeled down to her eye level and out stretched his arms for a warm embrace.

"Come here, Amane."

Amane ran to Azrael's arms and cried and cried. Amane may not have been able to see physical things, but she could see people's spirits and thoughts as if she were watching TV or reading a book. Amane knew if someone was lying or telling the truth, whether they had pure intentions or planned to destroy the world, and she could judge a book by its cover because she already knew what the contents inside held.

"Shhhh…shhhhh…" Azrael said as he patted Amane's back. "I promise I won't hurt Ryo."

Amane pushed Azrael away and turned away from him. "That's not the point. There are dire consequences to taking that young boy's soul away."

Azrael was confused. He had thought for sure Amane was worried about her brother's safety like she usually was. Azrael had taken Amane away a long time ago because although Ryo tried his best, he couldn't protect his powerful sister as was necessary. Azrael respected Ryo for trying, but had deemed it best if she was taken to a place that could accommodate to her special needs. Azrael had let Amane watch as her big brother continued to age and grow while she stayed the same, which was partially why he had taken interest in the Pharaoh's spirit after being missing for thousands of years. Amane had really been on edge for her brother's safety ever since he had received the Millennium Ring. But now that Amane was having a fit for something other than Ryo's safety, Azrael didn't know how to respond.

Amane continued. "That young boy _needs_ to be around or else the world will perish!"

Azrael chuckled. "Don't be silly Amane. A soul as weak as his? Surely you jest."

"No! You can't kill him!" Amane continued to protest.

Azrael pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in defeat. "Fine. I won't kill him."

"You can't take him away and say you killed him either."

Azrael mentally cursed the young child's ability to read his mind. "What if I just play a little game with the mortals who care so much for him? What if I bring his soul _here_? Then you could have a play mate and maybe even see Ryo."

Amane thought about it for a second before turning back around with a smile. "I am kind of lonely."

"That's a good girl. Now why don't you go off to bed and let Azrael take care of this, alright?"

Amane nodded her head and ran back into the castle she and Azrael lived in. Azrael turned back to the images of the friends and smiled.

"Oh well. It will still be fun to mess with that all-mighty Pharaoh and the young boy's friends. And who's to say that an accident might befall the little boy?"

Azrael plucked a flower from a vine that had grown on the balcony and popped its head off with his thumb. Azrael broke into a mad laughter as he thought of all the fun he was going to have.

* * *

_So...what do you think?_

_Sarah: O_o...do you have a fetish for trying to kill Yugi or something?_

_Um...not exactly what I was hoping for to be your resction..._

_Sarah: Yeah? Well To. F*ing. Bad. Someone needs to stand up for the little guy since you like pounding the snot out of him._

_I haven't exactly done anything yet!_

_Sarah: Yet._

_*SIGH* Um...if it's not to much to ask...would you please comment? I don't care if you give me flames or anything, I just like to read what people have to say._

_Sarah: And I can see the traffic this story gets, so you better believe I'll know how many of you didn't comment!_

_Goodbye! And hope to see you for the next chapter!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi. As you've probably discovered, I have a lot of time on my hands to type this story. ^^;_

_Sarah: that's just because you aren't doing you're homework._

_But homework is BORING._

_Sarah: *SIGH* What am i goign to do with you?_

_Allow me to continue writing and do the disclaimer for me? :)_

_Sarah: -_- Fine. YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!_

_Now, for your reading pleasure, Chapter 2 of Weakness._

* * *

Yugi opened his eyes to see a lavishly decorated room. There were velvets and silks lining every inch of the gray bricked walls and plush couches and chairs scattered throughout. As Yugi took it all in, he realized one thing: this wasn't his room.

_Suddenly, a gust of wind caught Yugi's attention and he turned his head to a giant open window that lead to a balcony. Curious, Yugi went out to the balcony and gasped. The stars and moon shone so brightly without the light pollution of a city that Yugi couldn't believe that the two night skies were the same. Yugi slowly looked down in awe to see what else the beautiful scene had to offer, but soon found himself gasping in fear._

_The ground was covered in broken buildings and fires, in dark contrast with the twinkling diamonds in the sky. The ground was so red it looked as if it were stained in blood and the wind no sounded more like screams than a gentle breeze._

"_Where…where am I…?" Yugi asked._

"_What are you doing on the balcony?" Yugi quickly spun around to see a little girl with a teddy bear standing in the open window. Yugi instantly pitied the girl when he saw her brown eyes were glazed over. Yugi realized he was being rude just staring at the girl and tried to answer her question when her eyes grew in alarm._

"_What's wrong-"_

"_NO! AZRAEL! YOU CAN'T!" The little girl shouted._

"_Who?" Yugi turned his head to look behind him when he felt something go through his back. Yugi instantly fell over and weakly tried to keep his eyes open to see who had stabbed him._

"_Goodbye Yugi…" A chilling voice said. _

_The last thing Yugi saw were a pair of blood-red eyes. Then, everything went black._

* * *

Yugi jolted up in bed, sweating profusely and panting. Yami instantly felt the distress of his other half and came out of the puzzle to see what was wrong.

"Yugi! Are you alright?"

Yugi clutched his heart with right hand and looked up to the spirit. Once Yugi saw Yami's worried face, he sighed in relief. He was home and nowhere near those blood-red eyes and chilling voice.

"Yeah Yami. I just had a nightmare." Yugi flashed an innocent smile and this time Yami was the one to sigh in relief.

"You had me worried for a second there."

"Well then, I'll make sure you're worried for months." Yugi stiffened at the familiar, cold voice and hesitantly looked to his window. There, two blood-red eyes looked back at him. Yugi pulled his covers up to his mouth and screamed.

Yami quickly turned around to see the dark figure now in the room with them. "Who are you?" Yami demanded.

It was then that Yami felt a little stupid because he realized the figure probably couldn't hear him since he was a spirit. But then, to Yami's shock, the man responded.

"Me? Why, I think Yugi knows who I am." A sinister smile crept onto the man's face as Yami turned back to Yugi for an explanation.

All Yugi could squeak out was, "Azrael?"

Azrael bowed, but Yami was still confused.

"Azrael? Yugi, who's Azrael?"

Azrael moved like a blur and grabbed Yami around the neck and lifted him off the ground. Yami struggled to get let go in vain. "If it's not quite obvious, _I_ am Azrael."

Azrael threw Yami across the bed to the wall. To Yugi's surprise, Yami and the wall met with a solid clunk. Yami wasn't just a spirit anymore, he had _flesh_. He was mortal.

"Yami!" Yugi reached for his injured friend, but was stopped by Azrael's strong grip.

Azrael lifted Yugi out of the bed by his arm and said, "Now, now. I suggest neither of you do anything to rash because," Azrael quickly repositioned Yugi so that one of his hands was covering Yugi's mouth and the other one held a knife to Yugi throat. "I won't hesitate to kill you."

Yugi called for Yami through their mindlink and Yami instantly woke up.

"Yugi!" Yami rushed forward, but was held back by shadows that came out of the wall and restrained him. One of the dark tentacles wrapped itself around Yami's mouth while the rest wrapped his torso in an unbreakable restraint. After struggling for a little bit, Yami glared at Azrael.

"Tut, tut. You know, just because you were unconscious doesn't mean you can just ignore my warning." Azrael pressed the knife into Yugi neck so that a small trickle of blood slithered down.

Yami's eyes widened in fear at the act and he tried to say, "What do you want?" Instead, it just came out like a bunch of mumbled fragments. Azrael pieced together what Yami was trying to say and smiled again.

He loosened the knife on Yugi's neck so that it didn't cut anymore and said, "I'm so glad you decided to cooperate."

"_Yami…I-I'm scared." _Yugi said through their mindlink.

"_I know. Don't worry; I'll get you out safely." _

Azrael's smile disappeared as he said with a bored tone, "Ah yes, that ever so annoying mindlink the two of you share. Well, I can get rid of that no prob."

Yami and Yugi both simultaneously felt a painful snap in their minds as the link they communicated across was severed. Both of them let out muffled cries of pain at which Azrael just smirked.

"Much better. Now then, back to business. You see I originally intended to kill the little guy right off the bat." Yami's eyes widened through the pain as the knife was once again pressed to Yugi throat and more crimson liquid fell.

"NO!" Yami cried through the shadow gag.

Azrael chuckled and loosened the knife again. A few tears fell from Yugi onto the knife as Azrael continued. "But lucky for you, _Pharaoh_, someone convinced me otherwise. Instead I'm just going to use him for a little game. You do like games, don't you?"

Yami glared at Azrael with a fierceness that sent chills down Yugi's spine. Yami asked muffley, "What game?"

"Like I said, it's really quite simple. All you have to do is find where I hide the little tike here and get him. Easy, right?"

"What's the catch?"

"Catch? There is no 'catch'. It's truly just a straight forward find him. Of course…I can't guarantee he'll be safe if you wait too long."

Another cry of pain came from Yugi as the knife reached the middle of his neck. Yami once again responded by trying to break free of his restraints to stop the harm being caused to his hikari. Azrael chuckled as shadows consumed Yugi and himself.

"NO!" Yami tried even harder to break free, but the shadows didn't budge.

"Heh, tell Ryo Amane says 'hi'." Azrael's laughter rang through the room as the last of him disappeared from sight. Yugi attempted one last time to reach Yami, but the shadows swallowed him up before he even had the chance.

The instant both men disappeared, the shadows released Yami and he fell to the bed in defeat, Azrael's last words ringing through his head.

"I-Is he saying Ryo might know what's going on?" Yami asked in realization.

Yami got up from the bed, his heart still aching from the loss of Yugi, and decided to see what Ryo knew about Azrael. Yami also briefly wondered who Amane was, but figured he'd probably find out when he told Ryo they said "Hi".

Yami looked out the window to see the moon glowing. He grabbed his heart to try and ease the pain and whispered, "I promise I'll get you back Yugi. Just don't give up, please."

* * *

_Well...I think I'd liek to take this time to thank all the people who reviewed my last chapter: **Yam-Chan, ThiefOfHearts, Yoite-MiharuRokujou-Ciel, DarkChao1663, **and **Mystery Agent. **Your reviews ment so much!_

_Sarah: But that's only FIVE reviews. The rest of you should feel full of shame! And fear._

_Why fear?_

_Sarah: Mwahahahahahah..._

_Um... please don't kill my readers._

_Azrael: How about me? I'm curious to see what will happen to your story if only those who review live... :)_

_NO! Don't threaten the readers!_

_Sarah: All they have to do is review. SO YOU ALL BETTER REVIEW!_

_*GULP* Um...I hope you come back next chapter. Bye. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Well hello again! Lucky for you readers, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to write about Yugi or Yami in this chapter, so I wrote about both!_

_Sarah: Yay, a slightly longer chapter. -_-_

_XP Just do the disclaimer so the nice readers can read the story._

_Sarah: *mumbles* Nice? Whatever...YamiHeart doesn't own Yugioh. Happy?_

_Very.^^ Please enjoy chapter 3!_

* * *

Yami wanted to call all of his friends as soon as Azrael left, but he felt a heavy tiredness that he found he couldn't fight off. He slowly crawled into bed, the pain from previous events still eating at his heart, and drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep.

The next thing Yami felt was the sun's rays hitting his eyes. He groaned and shifted in bed. He waited for Yugi to groggily get up and fix it somehow, but nothing happened. Then the horrible truth hit Yami like a locomotive.

Yami jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs. He silently thanked the gods that Yugi's grandfather was at an archeological dig for Pegasus. Yami could only imagine the older man coming in to see what all the ruckus was about, only to get hurt by Azrael's shadow magic.

Yami grabbed the phone and was about to call Ryo first- seeing as he seemed to be involved with Yugi's kidnapper- but stopped when he realized he didn't know how to use a phone. Yami starred at the device, he knew he was wasting precious time. Yami quickly hung up the phone and grabbed one of Yugi's jackets. It was a little snug, but Yami didn't notice as he darted out of the house/game shop and to all of his closest friend's houses.

_Meanwhile…_

Yugi squirmed and struggled to get out of Azrael's grip, but Azrael didn't even flinch. Azrael only smiled as he materialized in his grand castle with his experiment in hand. Once they were both completely there, Azrael threw Yugi to the ground, hard.

"Let me explain the situation to you, little vessel." Yugi cringed at Azrael's choice of words. They reminded him of Ryo's other half and when Marik was evil. Speaking of Ryo…

"What does Ryo have to do with this? Who's Amane?" Yugi asked from the floor.

Azrael shot Yugi a glare that rivaled the ones Yami gave. Yugi instinctively put his head down and tried to crouch away from Azrael. Azrael approached Yugi slowly and bent down to Yugi's eye level. He brought out his knife again and put it to Yugi's cheek.

"I suggest you stop the interrupting me thing if you wish to live long enough for the spirit to find you."

Yugi winced as Azrael pressed the knife slightly to draw a trickle of blood. Confident that he had gotten his point across, Azrael got up and walked away from Yugi. Azrael's smile was wicked once again as he continued.

"Well, now that I have your attention, let me explain things to you. One day, I got bored. Truly this is nothing new, but this day I decided to entertain myself with _you_. You see, I saw how much everyone _loved_ and _cared_ about you and I got curious. I asked myself 'What would happen if Yugi ran into a little…_accident_?' So, I decided to kill you and see what would happen."

Yugi's eyes grew large at what he had just been told. He wanted to ask a million questions, but he didn't want a repeat of last time. Azrael noticed Yugi's expression and chuckled.

"Come now, vessel. If I were going to kill you you'd already be dead. No, someone convinced me otherwise. Hold on. AMANE!" Azrael called. "I BROUGHT YOUR NEW FRIEND!"

Yugi looked as a little girl with long, fair, blonde hair and a lavender nightgown came into the doorway. She was holding a teddy bear protectively and her eyes were glazed over. Yugi gasped. It was the girl from his dream.

"Vess-er-Yugi. I'd like you to meet Amane." Azrael gestured toward the little girl with his arms. "And she is the only reason you are alive and breathing right now."

The little girl went towards Azrael and held his hand with the one not holding the bear. Yugi had to admit, the little girl was adorable. But Yugi still wasn't sure what she had to do with Ryo. Just as Yugi was about to ask again, Azrael walked out of the room saying, "Play nice you two."

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as fear and unease crept into Yugi's mind. Not to mention he had no idea what to say to the little blind girl.

"I'm not blind." Amane mumbled into her Teddy Bear. Yugi stared in shock at the girl. It was almost like she was "Reading your thoughts? Yeah, that's how I see. The world I see is full of pure souls and tainted ones; happy thoughts and sad thoughts."

Yugi stared in shock at Amane, who hid behind her Teddy. In truth, Amane just wanted to tell the young boy right away about how abnormal and strange she was. Amane braced herself for curses and hatred from the young boy and was shocked when she instead received a hug from the boy she had convinced Azrael not to kill.

"I may not be able to see the world the same way you do, but I can tell that took a lot of courage to tell me that." Yugi said. Amane couldn't help but cry tears of joy. Yugi was afraid he had done something wrong and Amane saw the alarm in his soul.

"I-I'm s-sorry. I wa-wasn't expecting you to react l-like that." Amane said as she tried to wipe away her tears. Yugi smiled despite the severity of his situation. Then, Yugi's question popped back into his head again.

"Amane? May I ask your relation to Ryo?" Amane looked up to Yugi with wide eyes.

"Ryo's my brother."

"What? I didn't know Ryo had a sister!"

Amane put her head down and smiled sadly. "Yeah, he doesn't talk about me much. He feels as though he failed at being my big brother."

Yugi felt horrible. Not only did Ryo have to put up with an abusive Yami, but he also lost his sister to the maniac known as Azrael.

"How long have you been here, Amane?"

"10 years, when I was five and Ryo was six. You never age here, so that's why I look exactly the same."

That brought up another one of Yugi's questions. "Exactly where _is _here?"

"It's been given many names, but Azrael prefers to call it 'the In-Between'. No time passes here, the stars always shine, and the things that history has forgotten float here. You'd be surprised how many weathered buildings are outside."

Yugi remembered his dream and all the broken buildings he had seen on the ground below the starry night.

"_So this truly is the same place from my dream."_ Yugi thought. He shivered at the thought of how the dream ended and hoped that had truly only been an act of his subconscious.

"Um…I know this whole thing is weird for you but…would you mind playing with me until your friends come rescue you? Azrael's always so busy so I'm usually alone."

Yugi looked back at Amane and smiled. The relationship between her and Azrael reminded Yugi of Mokuba and Seto. Seto was always busy and no matter what he did, good or bad, Mokuba loved him to pieces.

"Of course Amane. What do you want to play?"

Amane's face lit up as she grabbed Yugi's arm and pulled him to some new location.

"I hope you like Capmon ((this is a game Mokuba challenges Yugi to in the original manga of Yu-Gi-Oh.))!"

* * *

Yami had gone to Anzu, Jonouchi, Honda, and Ryo's houses saying the simple words "It's Yugi." Everyone knew that meant something bad had happened and that Yami wanted to tell everyone at once. Was Yami had rounded them all up, he brought them back to the Game Shop and set up chairs around the dining room table. All of the teenagers were anxious to hear what had happened to their height-challenged friend. Yami sat at the head of the table with Ryo on the opposite end. Anzu sat on the left of Yami and Honda and Jonouchi sat on the other side.

"So, what happened to Yuge, Yami?" Jonouchi asked.

Yami sighed and put his elbows on the table. "Last night a man came and separated Yugi and me. He severed our mindlink and told me if I wanted Yugi back I'd have to find and get him."

Yami let the shock of the situation soak into his friends. None of them liked what they heard, and Yami knew it. He decided to leave the detail of Azrael slitting Yugi's throat to avoid complete panic from his friends.

After a minute or two, Yami looked straight at Ryo and said, "Ryo, I hate to ask this, but do the names 'Azrael' and 'Amane' mean anything to you?"

Ryo turned even paler than usual and let his hair shadow his face. He quietly whispered the word, "No."

"So you do know who they are then?"

"Please Yami, _please_ tell me Azrael didn't take Yugi." Ryo's voice was shaky, and now everyone was curious, even Bakura.

"That was the name the man who came into Yugi's room last night gave us, and before he left with Yugi he told me to give you the message 'Amane says hi'." Yami hesitated before asking his next question. "Who's Amane, Ryo?"

Ryo lifted up his head to reveal a steady flow of tears. "A-Amane is my sister, and Azrael took her 10 years ago."

Anzu gasped and the information Ryo had just given. Yami himself was unaware how personal this new adversary was with Ryo and felt his fists shake in anger. Yami could only imagine how many other lives Azrael had messed with. Yami hated asking Ryo so many questions, but he knew it was necessary to help Yugi and Amane.

"Ryo, I'm sorry, but if you know where Azrael is please tell me so I can get Yugi back."

"That's just it." Ryo said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Azrael lives in the In-Between, a place no one can come in and out of except Azrael himself."

Yami felt his heart stop for a couple seconds. Was Ryo saying…?

"There is no way to get Yugi back. Azrael tricked you."

* * *

_OH NO! ALL HOPE IS LOST! DX_

_Sarah: Ah, suck it up. ALright, listen-er-read all you pointless readers! These are the people who get to LIVE:** Yam-Chan, Mystical, DarkChao1663, Mystery Agent, Assassin Massie, **and** 11 Kairi 11. **The rest of you will die for not reviewing._

_No! Don't kill my readers!_

_Sarah: Fine. I'll give them another chance this chapter but if they don't this time..._

_No killing._

_Sarah: WHAT? Hmph. You're no fun!_

_I'd just like peopel to read this story without worrying whether they're going to live or not!_

_Sarah: Whatev._

_Please review, and not just to live._

_Sarah: Although that is an acceptable reason._

_*SIGH*_


	4. Chapter 4

_Whoop! Super long chapter today!_

_Sarah: Huzzah. -_-_

_Hey! It's a pretty big accomplishment for me!_

_Sarah: Whatever. YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!_

_Hey, I didn't even have to ask you to do the disclaimer._

_Sarah: That's because I'M TIRED AND I WANT TO GET THIS OVER WITH! DX_

_O.O Okay...okay...Please enjoy chapter four while I calm Sarah down..._

_Sarah:Grrrrr..._

* * *

"Where are we going?" Yugi asked as he allowed Amane to continue leading him down the maze of hallways the building was made of.

"My room!" Amane exclaimed happily.

Yugi gasped as he entered a gigantic room covered in stuffed animals of all sizes. A plush, soft pink carpet covered the ground and soft blankets were piled on top of a small bed in the corner. Amane ran to a wooden shelf and pulled down multiple games. Yugi followed her, but stopped in a clearing surrounded by giant dogs and mini elephants. The room kind of reminded Yugi of his own soul room.

Amane came back and plopped all the games in front of Yugi. "Which one would you like to play first?" She asked.

Yugi bent down and looked through the games. CandyLand, Life, a deck of normal playing cards, Go Fish, Old Maid, and Ants in the Pants were a few of the games. One game stood out to Yugi from all the rest and he picked it up. He showed it to Amane, who beamed.

"I love Role Playing Games!"

Yugi smiled again. I found it funny that Ryo's little sister would love RPG's and began to help Amane set up the game. Amane requested that she be the Game Master since the very few times Azrael played with her he demanded to be said position. Yugi didn't mind at all and started to design his own little character.

"Oh! I'll be right back."

Amane got up and left the clearing and returned with a pair of blue-rimmed glasses with red lenses. Amane put them on and sat back down across from Yugi.

"What are those for?" Yugi asked.

"Azrael made them for me. They make sure I can't see your thoughts during the game. I guess it wouldn't totally matter since I'm the Game Master, but I think it's only fair to wear these when I play games with people."

Yugi nodded in agreement as he put the finishing touches on his figure. The game piece had Yugi's hair and big, purple eyes. It wore a black pants and long-sleeved shirt with a gray vest and belt. Amane took off her glasses and her eyes widened as she examined the miniature Yugi.

"It's so beautiful…"

"You can see it?"

"Well…I can see all the thought and care you put into it. All of the world's most beautiful things are made like that."

Amane put her glasses back on and Yugi placed his character at his end of the board.

"Let's play!"

* * *

No one said a word for a long time as they let Ryo's words seep in. Jonouchi was the first to find his words.

"What do you mean Ryo?" At first, Jonouchi's words were soft, but then his words quickly escalated in volume as he asked, "Are you saying Yugi's gone forever?"

"Jonouchi! Calm down, man!" Honda yelled as he grabbed his friend, knowing Jonouchi could pounce and try to pound the answers out Ryo at any moment.

"I-I don't know. Azrael is a very complicated man who often experiments when he's bored. Although, I'm not sure what it is he wishes to see by taking Yugi away."

"Well, why did he take your sister?" Anzu asked.

Ryo shifted uncomfortably before answering, "Because I was a bad brother."

"What?" Everyone exclaimed.

"Ryo, I find that hard to believe." Anzu said.

"Yeah! You're one of the best guys I know!" Jonouchi added.

"But I couldn't protect Amane!"

"Protect her from what?"

Ryo sighed and put his head in his hands. "At first, everyone thought Amane was blind because her eyes were glazed over." Jonouchi remembered his sister and how she had almost become blind herself. "Then we found out that she _could_ see, but not like us. Amane saw the world through people's thoughts and souls. After everyone found that out, they started to treat Amane differently. Some feared her, others wanted to experiment on her. I tried my best to protect her from all the jeers and prying eyes, but both of us knew I wasn't strong enough.

"That's when Azrael came to both of us. He said he respected my efforts to protect Amane and her abilities, but it was obvious she would need someone stronger to protect her. Azrael promised he would take Amane far away from all the horrible people, to a place he called the In-Between. I wasn't sure of what to do, but Amane gladly accepted his offer. I figured if Amane trusted him, so could I. I let Azrael take Amane away, but I've never stopped missing her."

Ryo was on the verge of tears again, so no one pressed him further on the subject of his sister, especially since it didn't seem to be too connected to Yugi. Yami was still debating in his head if he should at least tell Ryo about how Azrael definitely had the potential to be violent when Jonouchi snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Well, then what are we going to do to get Yugi back?"

Everyone gave Jonouchi a confused stare.

"What? Just 'cause this guy has some unreachable place doesn't mean I'm going to give up trying to rescue my best bud."

"Jonouchi's right. We need to come up with a plan." Yami said with determination back in his eyes.

The five teens then started brainstorming ideas ranging from hitchhiking to the In-Between to using a time machine to go back in time and grab ahold of Azrael as he disappeared into the shadows. All ideas were quickly dismissed and within an hour no progress had been made.

"Damn it!" Jonouchi yelled as he punched his fist into the table.

Ryo thought about reminding the group he had already told them there was no way to get Yugi back, but decided against it. He knew the last thing they would want to hear was that they would just have to wait for Azrael's next move, but that reality was quickly setting in.

This caused fear to build up inside of Yami. Azrael had made it pretty clear to him that if the gang didn't make a move, Azrael's next one would be to kill Yugi. Yami was once again considering telling his friends how grave the situation truly was when he felt a wave of glee coming from somewhere far off.

Yami instinctively jumped up from his chair, causing everyone to do the same.

"What is it Yami?" Honda asked.

"I think it's Yugi. And…he's…happy." Yami said in shock.

Normally everyone would have been relieved to know some form of positive emotion was coming from their little friend, but then a horrifying thought entered all their minds simultaneously: What if they did somehow manage to find Yugi, but he didn't want to come back with them? What if this "In-Between" was a great place and Yugi didn't want to leave?

"You don't actually think…?"

"God, Anzu, I have no idea what to make of this entire situation! Some guy from Ryo's past comes out of nowhere, takes Yugi, and tells us to get him from a place we can't get to!" Jonouchi was completely frustrated at this point. Nothing they had figured out had gotten them closer to saving Yugi. In fact, most of it pushed them farther back.

* * *

Azrael laughed. He had no idea making Yugi just disappear could do this much to the people who cared about him. It was hilarious! Azrael's urge to kill Yugi grew as he longed to see their reaction to the midget's cold corpse.

Azrael abruptly stopped laughing when he thought about how upset Amane would be if she found out. Azrael leaned against the balcony and sighed.

"Why won't she just let me kill him? What's the worst that could happen?"

Oddly enough, the more horrible things Azrael thought about, the more fuel was fed to the fire inside of him that desired to kill Yugi.

* * *

"Nooooooooo!" Amane exclaimed as Yugi's character reached the castle that eerily looked like the one the two children sat in.

"Yep, my character reaches the castle and takes the throne." Yugi said with a smirk.

Amane laughed. "How did you do that? Whenever Azrael is the Game Master he always wins!"

"They don't call me the King of Games for nothing Amane."

"I see…" Amane let out a big yawn and looked towards the little bed in the corner.

"Are you tired?" Yugi asked.

Amane sleepily nodded her head yes.

"Come on, let's get you to bed."

Yugi stood up and walked over to Amane. He grabbed her hand and lifted her up from the ground. Amane removed her glasses and as the two walked over to Amane's bed, she continued to talk.

"Do you wonder how I see inanimate objects as well as living ones?"

"The question did pop in my head a couple times. Are you going to tell me how?"

"Uh huh." Amane shook her head in an exaggerated manner, showing how tired she was. "I see the intention the giver had for giving it. Well, that and sometimes I can see memories or events the object has been through. Take your clothes for instance," Amane gestured at Yugi's light blue pajamas he had been wearing when Azrael took him away. "I know they're pajamas because I see memories attached to them that are impossible in real life. And I see something-oh."

Yugi looked down at Amane in concern and asked, "What else do you see?"

A few tears streamed out of Amane's eyes as she responded, "I've been trying to ignore it, but I see all the events that lead to you coming here. From when you woke up from that nightmare to when the shadows engulfed both you and Azrael."

Yugi stopped walking, knowing it was scary when he saw it happen in front of his eyes. He could only imagine the fear a five year old girl would feel from seeing his gruesome capture. Yugi bent down in front of Amane and whipped her eyes. Amane looked at him, and Yugi smiled.

"You shouldn't worry about stuff like that. Yami will be here soon and rescue me. And you too, if you want to leave."

Amane looked at the sincerity in Yugi voice and a new wave of tears came pouring out of her eyes as she fell into Yugi's arms. Amane didn't want to tell Yugi that the In-Between wasn't accessible by anyone except Azrael; she didn't have the heart to crush Yugi's only hope. Yugi let her continue to cry on him until all that was left of her sobs were hiccups.

"There. Better now?"

Amane broke away from Yugi and numbly shook her head.

"Good." Yugi smiled and once again led Amane to her bed.

Yugi picked Amane up and tucked her into her covers. Amane held her teddy bear close to her as Yugi gently petted her head. Then, Amane had an idea.

"Yugi? Will you remind me to show you something when I wake up?"

"What is it?"

Amane giggled. "It's a surprise."

"Alright. Good night Amane. Sweet Dreams."

Amane wasn't used to hearing someone telling her to have sweet dreams and smiled.

"Good night Yugi."

* * *

_OoOoOOoOOOOOOOooo. I wonder what Amane wants to show Yugi._

_Sarah: Whatever. YamiHeart wants to thnak the following reviewers:** DarkChao1663, Yam-Chan, zeratheliger, 11 Kairi 11,Mystery Agent, Mystical, and R.N. Walker.**_

_Um...Sarah? You forgot **Assassin Massie**._

_Sarah: No I didn't. I'm not thanking them._

_-_- Just because they were right about the fact that if you kill people who don't review you won't get reviews from them doesn't mean you shouldn't thank them._

_Sarah: YES IT DOES!_

_...You do need some sleep. And Assasin Massi, I do appreciate your comment._

_Sarah: You're in cahootes with her! You're a cahooter!_

_Bed. NOW._

_Sarah: *GRUMBLE*_

_Thank you to everyoen for their reviews and I hope to get a lot more! Thank you for reading and I hope to see you next chapter! Goodbye!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Well, hello again!^^ I'm so proud at how long my chapters are getting!_

_Sarah: Do you know how much that inconveniences everyone who reads this?_

_If it's a good chapter it doesn't inconvenience them. _

_Sarah: There's you're problem._

_:( Just...just do this disclaimer..._

_Sarah: YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!_

_Please enjoy chapter 5! _

* * *

Yugi silently left Amane to sleep in her fortress of animals and closed both of the doors to her room. Yugi smiled and turned around. That's when he remembered that he was in the castle of a guy who could potentially kill him at any second. Not to mention what little of the castle Yugi had seen was so maze-like that he couldn't remember how to get back to the original room Azrael had brought him to.

Yugi sighed heavily as loneliness twisted its way back into his heart. Playing with Amane had kept his mind off Yami but now the thoughts of Yugi's other half came back with a vengeance. Yugi began to unintentionally wander through the labyrinth of halls as he thought about how worried Yami must have been, especially after Azrael's little show. Yugi rubbed his hand against his throat and felt that the wound was already healing itself.

Yugi's wandering feet soon led him to the entrance of a room even bigger than Amane's. Well, it was actually hard to compare the sizes of the two rooms because this room was considerably less cluttered than the little girl's. In fact, the only things in the room were an elegant bed, a red carpet, a desk, silks and linens covering every inch of the gray brick, and billowing red curtains. Yugi entered the room and hesitantly walked towards the curtains to see that they led to a balcony. Yugi gulped as he realized he had seen the balcony before and was about to make a hasty retreat from the room when a chilling voice came from the balcony.

"Won't you join me in looking at the beautiful view?"

Yugi froze and didn't reply.

"You can't fool me, little vessel; I know you're there. Now I suggest you don't test my patience, seeing as you know what happens when my patience is tested…"

Yugi needed no more reason to go to the balcony and quickly stood next to Azrael. Both men leaned against the ledge and no words were spoken for a long time.

"Shouldn't you be with Amane?" Azrael asked, finally breaking the silence.

"She got tired so I tucked her into bed."

Azrael chuckled. "Out of all the people who have ever come to the In-Between, Amane is the only one to ever require sleep. I mean, it never changes from night to day and vice versa. Maybe it's because she's five years old…"

"Then why do you have a bed?"

"So Amane doesn't think she's any stranger."

Yugi stared up at the stars and didn't reply.

"Why don't you look down?"

"Huh?" Confused by Azrael's comment, Yugi looked over at the man in anticipation of clarification.

"Ever since you came out here you've been looking up at the sky. Why don't you look at the ground? I assure you it's just as beautiful, if not more."

Yugi was pretty confident he knew what the ground looked like, which is why he had been avoiding looking down. Against his better judgment, Yugi looked down. Yugi was right; he didn't like what he saw. The blood red ground, pieces of broken building, and other miscellaneous things almost made Yugi cringe in fear, although he wasn't sure why.

"Well, did I lie to you?" Yugi was afraid to reply. "I see…so, you're just like the rest of the world, huh?"

"Why do you say that?"

"You fear all the stuff out there. You fear the unknown; you fear what has been forgotten."

"Forgotten?"

"The In-Between is a refuge for everything mankind has forgotten or discarded altogether. Although a couple of the bigger structures are just things that have eroded over time, most everything else is just things the world didn't want anymore. You are nothing special, and here I had hoped I had found the reason they care…"

Azrael's last words confused Yugi even more as he continued to look at all the forgotten stuff. The more Yugi looked, the more he began to pity these things misplaced by time. Then, a peculiar question popped into Yugi's head.

"Azrael? Would caused you to create the In-Between?"

Azrael didn't even hesitate to answer. "I got bored."

"Wha…?"

"A long time ago I lived on Earth with everyone else when one day I got bored and I started to wonder what would happen if I created a place that sat between time and space. After many experiments I had finally created the In-Between. I soon came to like the In-Between more than being among other men and spent more time here. I felt a little guilty at first, but then I realized no one even noticed my absence. I was insignificant, replaceable. It didn't matter if I never came out of the In-Between because _I_ didn't matter. So here I stayed and observed as the world changed and grew to be a worse place than before.

"I noticed that I started to become one with the In-Between and all its inhabitants. The In-Between gave me power, and eventually I wasn't even human anymore. I was a higher being in a place far better than the one I had come from. Of course I still get bored form time to time and entertain myself with the pitiful people down below, as you have learned very well."

"Azrael you're wrong." Yugi said solemnly.

"Wrong? Wrong about what?"

"You _do_ matter; everyone does. You may not feel like you matter, but I know you matter to Amane. Isn't that worth something?"

For the first time in their entire conversation Azrael looked at Yugi and was met with eyes confident in their response. And then Azrael felt…_something._ He didn't know what it was, but he knew it was supposed to make him _happy_, but instead feeling it made him angry.

Without warning, Azrael's anger exploded and he grabbed a knife and pounced on Yugi. Yugi let out a cry of surprise as Azrael pressed the knife to Yugi's heart with intent to murder in his eyes.

Then, as quickly as the anger exploded, it subsided and Azrael regained control of his emotions. Of course, this didn't mean he loosened the knife at all. In fact, it made him press it a little deeper.

"Now listen you insignificant child. Don't try to sympathize with me or twist the truth into lies to make me feel better. If anything, as you've seen, it makes me angrier. If you want your little spirit friend to come all this way to find a dead body, then keep pushing me like this. Do I make myself clear?"

Yugi quickly nodded his head and Azrael got off. Azrael pointed out of the room and Yugi understood it instantly as a silent, "Out." Yugi scrambled up off the ground and walked as calm and fast as he could out of the room until he was out of Azrael's sight. Once Yugi was down the hall a little ways, he bolted. He didn't care where he was going, but he knew he had to get away from Azrael.

Somehow, Yugi ended up back at Amane's room just as the young girl was waking up. She greeted Yugi with a big yawn and stretch.

"Where have you been?" Amane asked, still a little sleepy.

"Just…you know…looking around."

Amane frowned. "You had a run in with Azrael."

Yugi didn't want to worry Amane and quickly changed the subject. "Didn't you want to show me something?"

Amane instantly brightened up. "Oh yeah! Come with me!"

Amane hopped out of bed, teddy bear in hand, and led Yugi down a hallway he hadn't seen before. The two went quite a way before finally stopping in front of a piece of purple velvet hanging on the wall.

"What is it?" Yugi asked.

Amane giggled. "I'll show you."

Amane grabbed the velvet covering to reveal a mirror that showed Ryo walking alone outside. Yugi stared in wonder at the thing, still not sure what it was.

"Azrael gave it to me not long after I had first arrived here. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it lets me see the world down below. Usually I watch Ryo for obvious reasons but…you can see anyone really."

"Even Yami?"

"Yep!" Amane faced the mirror and commanded it to show the ancient spirit.

The mirror's vision became cloudy for a second before revealing Yami sitting on Yugi's bed, face etched in worry. Yugi's heart tugged in pain at seeing his other half so sad and lost. Amane's face was also very gloomy as she saw Yami vainly attempt to contact Yugi through their severed mindlink.

"It's so weird…" Amane said out loud. "His thoughts reach out and try to grab onto a wavelength, but they never make it. The thoughts always dissipate just as they're about to reach."

Yugi was pretty confident that he knew what Yami was trying to do and decided to see if both boys tried to contact each other at the same time if the connection would get through.

Yugi shouted all sorts of things like, "Yami!" and, "I'm alright!", but Yami didn't react once. Amane watched as she saw Yugi's thoughts do the same thing Yami's were. The fact that both were trying so hard and getting nowhere made several tears slip from Amane's eyes.

Yugi saw the tears out of the corner of his eyes and figured out his attempts were as futile as Yami's.

"Hey Amane. Why don't we watch Ryo again?" Yugi suggested.

Amane used her arm to wipe away all traces of her tears and gratefully changed the mirrors image back to Ryo. This time Ryo was in his room and had a letter in front of him that he was writing. But someone else was in the room with Ryo, someone who could have been mistaken for Ryo's twin by normal humans. Yugi wasn't sure if it was because of the mirror or the fact that he had a Yami of his own that he saw Bakura, but he decided not to dwell on the thought to long as he watched the events play out before his eyes.

"What are you doing vessel?" Bakura spat.

"I'm writing a letter. Leave me alone."

Bakura looked over Ryo's shoulder and saw that the letter was addressed to Amane.

"Hey, I thought you said that Amane chick was taken to some place you can't get to."

"I did."

Bakura was getting angry.

"Then why are you writing a letter to her?"

"I know one day I'll see Amane again. I don't think I'll be able to remember everything that's happened in ten years, so I write these letters so I can tell her when she returns."

Bakura remained silent for a couple minutes as he watched Ryo continue to write. When Ryo mentioned something about his mother in the letter, Bakura had another question.

"Why would you ask Amane how your mother is doing? Didn't you say that Azrael guy only took Amane?"

Ryo sighed and stopped writing. "I didn't want to tell everyone else but the reason we found out Amane didn't see like everyone else was that she kept seeing my mother's spirit even though she had been dead for quite a while. Amane would tell me she was looking over us and that the two of them would often have conversations together."

"Oh Ryo. If only you knew Mom wasn't with me but _you_." Amane said to no one.

"What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"Mum's been watching Ryo ever since I left with Azrael, and for good reason. The spirit that's been inhabiting Ryo is…_bad_, to put it lightly."

Yugi absentmindedly nodded his head. He knew the spirit of the ring's cruelty first-hand. Again, Yugi's mind drifted back to the RPG that he and his friends had played with who they thought was Ryo but was actually his yami.

"Hmph. Instead of writing, why don't you do something?" Bakura asked.

"Because I _can't_, spirit. I know you were listening to the meeting we had today, and I'm pretty sure by the lack of headway we made you can see I wasn't lying when I said there is _no way_ to the In-Between except through Azrael."

Yugi practically felt his heart drop at Ryo's statement. Amane saw the change in Yugi out of the corner of her eye and held her breath. How would Yugi react to the news that there was a chance Yami wasn't going to come and get him because he _couldn't_?

"Amane, what does Ryo mean 'there is no way to the In-Between except through Azrael'?" Yugi asked, barely above a whisper.

Amane gulped. "W-Well…um… what he means is that… the reason people don't just waltz into the In-Between in because the only person who can travel between here and there is Azrael. T-That I know of!"

Amane closed her eyes and looked away from Yugi, not wanting to see his reaction. There was a long silence before Yugi finally spoke.

"That's okay."

"Huh?" Amane quickly opened her eyes and looked at Yugi. He was emitting a content aura, the last thing Amane had been expecting.

"I mean, I don't want Yami to get hurt or make a deal with Azrael just because of me. I know he treats me just like a brother, and I would never accuse him of not trying his hardest to get me back. Don't get me wrong; I have every ounce of faith in Mou Hitori no Boku, but I don't want him getting hurt because I got taken."  
Amane stared in shock at Yugi for a while before she realized what she was doing. She just couldn't believe it. How could he be so happy? So optimistic? So content with the fact that he might be stuck here forever?

Amane closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer to anyone who would listen. _"Please, PLEASE let Yami find a way to the In-Between and save Yugi. Please, before my words mean nothing to Azrael and he kills Yugi!"_

* * *

Azrael looked down from his balcony with a glare secure on his face. What was that shit Yugi had been spewing at him about him mattering? Being important? And what about Yugi's stupid, happy, optimistic eyes? Did they ever piss Azrael off!

And then, Azrael got over it. He got over his anger at Yugi's happiness and hope.

And got bored.

"What to do to move this game along…?" Azrael asked no one in particular.

He looked around at all the ruble and blood-red dirt as an idea smacked him in the brain. Azrael smiled wickedly.

"I think I'm going to give the little pawns some help in coming here, since their meeting proved fruitless. But I won't teleport them to the safe, warm castle, oh no. They'll be brought to a place even _I_ don't dare venture out to. The place where the mud is red and forgotten souls and buildings linger; somewhere in the area surrounding my fortress. Ah yes, the place a merely observe and never go into. I highly doubt they'll make it here alive."

Azrael laughed maniacally as he walked into his room.

"Now all I have to do is make a few calls…"

* * *

_Well...what did you all think? I know a lot of you were curious about Amane wanted to show Yugi and now you know! But at the same time you don't know what Azrael means by making a few calls...XD_

_Sarah: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now if you're done,_

_:(_

_Sarah: I'd like to respond to some of these comments you've been getting._

_Um...go for it..._

_Sarah: To **R.N. Walker**, if we told you the answers to all those questions, there would be no surprises._

_Not to mean...continue._

_Sarah: To **Assassin Massie**, YOU WISH I WAS JEALOUS OF YOU! I AM A FREAKING YAMI! WHAT ARE YOU?_

_A) STOP BEING MEAN TO THE REVIEWERS! B) Stop yelling C) Obviously Assassin Massie is an Assassin, which I think beats your Yami status._

_Sarah: (Grrr...) To **Yam-Chan**, I guess you've pretty much figured out that there really is no way to the In-Between without Azrael's help so..._

_That's better._

_Sarah: To **Kairi** (which is what I'm going to call you), Since YamiHeart is the author, yes, yes she could end it right there._

_Teatering on the mean line, but you may continue._

_Sarah: To **DarkChao1663**,... I don't want to do this one._

_Why?_

_Sarah: I'm going to say something mean._

_*SIGH* Fine, I'll do DarkChao1663's. I want to thank you for that advice on the shaking and nodding thing. I knew there was a difference but...I forget it a lot so thank you._

_Sarah: See? I would ahve been really mad._

_Why? I said I accepted criticism. They were just tryign to help me. I take no offfense, and I definetly didn't get angry 'cause of it._

_Sarah: Well, I'm done._

_Er...Okay. Um...I've got a long, homework-free weekend ahead of me so... semi-expect a couple updates. Don't bet your life on it or anything but...yeah._

_Sarah: *mumbles* Semi-expect? What a stupid Hikari I have..._

_Please comment! Praise, criticism, flames, questions, and anything else you can think of accepted! I hope to see you all next chapter!_

_Bye.^^_


	6. Chapter 6

_See? I've got a lot of time on my hands. _

_Sarah: That's because you have no life._

_Grr...that's NOT why...Anyway, I don't really like this chapter. I think its just kind of a lead up to the next chapter, which I think is going to be better._

_Sarah: It wouldn't take a whole lot to write better than the crap you always make your poor readers well...read._

_DX Why must you continually hurt my feelings?_

_Sarah: I'm a yami with an attitude problem. WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?_

_Good point...just do the disclaimer._

_Sarah: YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!_

_Please enjoy chapter 6!^^_

* * *

Amane and Yugi had long since left the mirror and had decided to go back to playing games in the small clearing of animals. After Yugi had won his tenth game of gold fish, Amane decided it was time for a new game.

Amane looked through the pile of games, not sure exactly what she was looking for, when Azrael entered the room.

"Ah…Mr. Mutou. Just the man I was looking for."

Yugi tensed up at the man's presence, but tried his best not to show it. Amane, of course, saw his distress right away and thought fast.

"Hey Azrael. We were just about to play…um… dominoes!" Amane eagerly pulled out a metal container that rattled with dominoes. "Want to join us?"

"Sorry Amane, but I need to borrow our guest for a little bit."

Amane looked as far down into Azrael as she could and saw no intention of killing Yugi at the moment. Amane looked to Yugi and nodded, letting Yugi know he would come back alive.

Yugi got up and followed Azrael as he left the room.

* * *

Yami sat on Yugi's bed, exhausted from trying to contact Yugi through their long-severed mindlink. The only reason he had been trying so long was because ever since he had felt Yugi's burst of joy he had continued to feel little blips of other emotions. The times he had felt fear coming from his other half Yami's heart twisted in pain and worry.

Yami looked at the clock. _11:13 pm_. Yami had been at it for about _six hours_ and, just like the meeting he and his friends had had, he came up with nothing.

Yami fell over and let his head fall on Yugi's pillow. That's what Yami kept labeling everything: _Yugi's_ this, _Yugi's_ that. Sometimes it made Yami feel guilty he was using something that wasn't his, and then he would remember whose the object was and how far away they were from him. The whole day had been an emotional mess for Yami which was only made worse by the fact that he didn't have Yugi to confide to.

His best friend was _missing_.

His soul was _missing_.

His brother was _missing_.

And so far all the evidence had shown Yami that he could do nothing about it.

That made Yami angry. He didn't like feeling helpless. He felt like he had completely failed at being Yugi's protector and it caused his heart to twist and pull even more.

Yami closed his eyes and pulled up the covers. He knew this wouldn't make the pain go away, but he needed to at least try to get some sleep. Yugi would scold him later if he didn't get some sleep.

Well, if Yami saw Yugi later.

"Having trouble sleeping, are we?" a cold voice asked.

Yami's eyes quickly opened and bolted up from the covers to be met with a floating portal that showed Azrael's upper torso. Rage built up inside of Yami as he looked at the man who had caused him and Yugi so much emotional distress.

"What do you want Azrael?" Yami growled.

"Ooooo. Snappy today, are we?"

"Azrael…"

"Hey, don't mess with me. You wouldn't want anything to happen to your widdle vessel, right?"

Suddenly, Yugi's face came into view, looking desperately at Yami. Azrael had another knife up to Yugi's cheek, bringing Yami's attention to the small cut that hadn't been there when Yugi was first taken from him.

"Azrael! Let Yugi go, _now_."

"I don't think you are in any position to be making orders, right Yugi?"

Yugi replied with a small whimper as the knife drew a trickle of blood. Yugi knew Amane had given him the okay to go with Azrael. But Azrael was an unpredictable man who could change his intentions any moment.

Yami couldn't help but instinctively call out, "Yugi!"

Azrael let out a cold laugh. "You know, as much as I'd like to mess with you all day, I do have a schedule to keep. So do you want to hear why I contacted you or not?"

Without hesitation Yami replied, "Yes."

"Excellent." Azrael threw Yugi to some unseen place with an audible thud. Yami cringed slightly, but kept his mouth shut so that Azrael didn't decide to do something else to Yugi.

"I guess you've figured out where Yugi is, right?"

"He's in the In-Between with you and Ryo's little sister, Amane."

"Bravo. Now, how do you plan on getting here?"

Yami was silent and hoped that Yugi was too far away to hear the conversation.

"That's what I thought. What would you do if I said I have decided to offer you transport to this place?"

"I'd ask you at what cost."

"I'm hurt, I really am. And here I thought you'd jump at the chance to save your oh-so-precious host."

"It's who's offering me the chance that makes me hesitate to accept."

"I guess I can't argue with that. How about this? If you want to take my offer, go to the steps of the museum at 1 am sharp. Do not take anyone with you; anyone I wish to invite to the In-Between will be contacted. I think that's fair. What about you Yugi?"

There was no response. Fear crept into Yami's mind as he thought of all the reasons Yugi wouldn't answer.

"Well, that's it."

"Wait!"

It was too late. Azrael's portal had dispersed into the air, leaving Yami alone once again. Although Yami didn't trust Azrael in the least, there was no doubt in his heart he was going to the steps of the museum at 1 am.

* * *

Amane paced her room back and forth as she waited for Azrael and Yugi to return. She was surprised when Azrael plopped an unconscious Yugi onto Amane's floor.

"W-What did you do to him?" Amane asked as she ran up to the unconscious form.

"Nothing." Azrael replied.

Amane looked at Azrael and saw that he had contacted Yami and thrown Yugi against the wall. She couldn't tell what Azrael and Yami had said, but that wasn't a top priority right now.

When Azrael turned to leave, Amane was appalled. "Where are you going now?"

"I have some unfinished business I must attend to."

Azrael did not wait for Amane's reply and left the little girl with the teenager's limp body. Amane struggled to pull Yugi to her bed and it took every ounce of her strength to get him onto the mattress. Luckily the bed wasn't that high and Yugi wasn't that heavy, otherwise Amane never would have succeeded. She let out a sigh and held her teddy bear close to her chest as she watched to make sure Yugi's soul wasn't drifting away from his body.

She really wished Azrael would find better ways to stop his boredom.

* * *

Ryo had finally finished his letter and was packing up for bed when a voice from his past came from behind him.

"Why, if it isn't Ryo. My, how tall you've gotten…"

Ryo sharply turned around to find the same portal and face Yami had seen only minutes earlier.

"A-Azrael?"

Azrael did a mock bow as he answered, "The one and only."

"W-What do you want? Why did you take Yugi? Is Amane alright?"

"Whoa, slow down Ryo. One question at a time. First, I wanted to extend an invitation to you that I'm sure you'll be interested in."

"What is it?"

"You know very well the only way to get to the In-Between is through me, right?" Ryo nodded. "Well, if you want to come and see Amane all you have to do is go to the steps at the museum at 1 am sharp. Only people I invite will be there, so please don't bring anyone with you."

Ryo clutched the Millennium Ring around his neck, worried about what Azrael would say if he brought the object with the spirit in it and what Bakura would do to Ryo if he didn't bring the spirit along.

"Don't worry Ryo; the spirit in your ring doesn't count." Ryo let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding in. "I look forward to seeing you again."

The portal disappeared. Ryo was confused at the quickness of Azrael's visit and noticed briefly that Azrael hadn't answered his question about why he ahd taken Yugi.

"Are you going to go? It'll probably be a trap."

Bakura had appeared next to Ryo with a blank expression on his face. Ryo turned to Bakura with a confident gleam in his eye Bakura wasn't expecting.

"I know it'll probably be a trap, but if there's a chance I can see Amane again I'll take it."

Bakura's expression didn't change, but if Amane had been watching the two's conversation she would have been shocked to see a hint of sympathy inside of Bakura's heart. Don't start thinking Bakura was going soft; he just knew what it was like to lose family and not be able to do anything about it.

There was a long silence before Bakura finally responded, "Well, if you're going to be a naïve idiot I refuse to help or hinder you in this little quest for your sister."

Bakura went back into the ring and Ryo smiled just a little. He knew that was the nicest thing Bakura was ever going to say to him and took it as encouragement to walk into Azrael's newest level of the game.

Ryo sat on his bed and waited for the appointed time to come.

* * *

Yami left a note on the door of the shop saying where he had gone just in case any of his friends weren't invited to the In-Between and decided to stop by the shop. Yami made his way towards the museum, remembering how much he had learned about himself the last time he had come. He sighed. It wouldn't matter if he found out who he was if Yugi wasn't there with him.

When Yami got to the stairs he saw a familiar white-haired boy standing there already. Yami was only surprised to see Ryo briefly before he remembered how personal this situation was for him as well.

"Hey Ryo."

"Oh! Hey Yami. So, Azrael contacted you too, huh?"

Yami nodded and walked up to where Ryo was when he saw the Millennium Ring flash in the moon's light. Ryo saw where Yami was looking and assured him Bakura wouldn't act up.

"Are you sure…?"

"Yeah, he told me he wouldn't help or hinder me in finding Amane."

Yami wasn't so sure, but couldn't press the issue any further before being swallowed by a giant portal. Ryo was horrified and tried to run away but was also swallowed by the black mass. The two men disappeared into the night, unseen and unheard by anyone.

They had been taken to the In-Between and to the next level of Azrael's game.

* * *

_Yeah, like I said, not one of my favorite chapters._

_Sarah: I WANT TO REPLY TO MORE REVIEWS!_

_Well...even though there aren't as many because of the quick update, since you didn't seem to offend anyone TOO much, go ahead._

_Sarah: Mwahahahaha..._

_What was that?_

_Sarah: Nothing._

_..._

_Sarah: To **Assassin Massie**, if it weren't for these delicious cookies you keep giving us..._

_No threatening!_

_Sarah: To **R.N. Walker**, You're addicted to a story by YAMIHEART? IT MUST BE THE APOCALYPSE!_

_Hey!_

_Sarah: To **Kairi**, don't worry about YamiHeart ending this story prematurely. She has a thing against doing things like that._

_I think it's rude to the readers to end it right in the middle._

_Sarah: To **ThiefOfHearts**, A) Cool name. B) I'm goign to warn you about lying to a yami. We darker halves get kind of angry when we find out. C) Cool Ryo stuffy. Is it like a voodoo doll?_

_You aren't getting a voodoo doll and that's final!_

_Sarah: To **DarkChao1663**, thank you YChao for the bat._

_Wow...you made out like a bandit with this round of comments._

_Sarah: Didn't I? :)_

_Please continue leaving reviews! I'm already writing the next chapter and as soon as I get it done I'll post it I know, I know, all these fats updates are going to mess with your minds!_

_Sarah: Just don't get used to it or you'll be sadly dissappointed._

_*SIGH*_

_See you next time! Bye!^^ _


	7. Chapter 7

_Welcome back my Yugioh loving readers. _

_Sarah: If you keep updating this fast people are going to get behind._

_I KNOW! But I've just been on a roll lately with ideas that I can't stop! XD_

_Sarah: Whatever. Just do the disclaimer for yourself this time._

_Why?_

_Sarah: Because this is like the third time I've had to do it in three days! X(_

_Fine. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any characters that aren't mine._

_Sarah: Now let me read the reviews and see how to respond to them._

_Alright.^^ Please enjoy chapter 7 of Weakness. _

* * *

When Yami and Ryo landed, they found themselves on red mud with random pieces of buildings and other objects surrounding them. The landing had been kind of rough for both of them, so getting up involved a lot of groaning and rubbing of bruised body parts. When both men looked up at the sky, they felt their breathes get taken away. The stars and moon glowed with such a passion that the rest of their surroundings seemed to fade away. That is, until Yami saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye.

Suddenly, giant black shapes came towards them, snarling and growling with blood-lust in their squinty eyes. Ryo slinked back while Yami took a defensive stance toward the menacing beasts. Just when it seemed one of the creatures was going to make a move, a low, unfamiliar voice commanded, "Hey! Get away ya varmints!"

A burly man with stained and ragged clothing broke through the creatures and waved them away from Yami and Ryo, shouting, "Shoo! Shoo!"

Some of the shadows left right away while other reluctantly retreated after a stare-down with the strange man. After they all disappeared, the man laughed and lifted up his holey hat to scratch his greasy hair.

Yami was the first to find his voice. "Um…who are you?"

"Oh! The names French Fry," French Fry extended his arm out to Ryo, who hesitantly took it. "And you two?"

"My name's Yami and this is Ryo." Yami gestured toward Ryo, who smiled.

"Um…French Fry? What were those things?" Ryo asked.

"Them? Aw, they're souls of forgotten people who fell into darkness. They kinda haunt the In-Between, but I've never seen them try to attack another Forgotten, which means you two ain't been forgotten by the world."

"Huh?" Yami and Ryo asked simultaneously.

"Didn't ya two know? The In-Between is a place for forgotten things to take refuge. In life I was a homeless guy with no friends or family. Heck, French Fry isn't even my real name; it's what I gave myself when I came here. Why are you two even here?"

"We're here to see Azrael." Yami answered confidently.

"OHHHHH…_that_ explains it…So, you want to see the big guy in the castle, huh? Does he want to see you?"

"Well…he's the one who brought us here." Ryo answered.

"Don't mean he want ya here. Azrael already brought two people here who haven't been forgotten yet and he lets them in the castle."

"They're our friends!" Yami interjected. "Azrael took them from us and brought Ryo and I here to try and save them."

French Fry laughed. "Now _that_ sounds more like Azrael. Well, if that's what you're here to do, let me have the honor of navigating you both through the dangerous In-Between."

"D-Dangerous?" Ryo stuttered out.

"Yep. Those shadows weren't the only things lurking around. But I know this place like the back of me hands and I'd be more than happy to bring ya to the castle."

Ryo and Yami looked at each other and nodded.

"Lead the way French Fry."

"Woo Hoo! Come on! Let's go!" French Fry darted off and Yami and Ryo had to sprint to catch up to him.

As they ran, Ryo noticed the red mud sloshed beneath their feet.

"French Fry?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is the dirt red?"

"Oh! That's the blood of forgotten soldiers on the battle field. I've heard that it wasn't always this red, but with every new war, the ground gets redder and redder."

Ryo gulped, but Yami was focused on finding Yugi. Now that things weren't as crazy, Yami noticed that he could feel Yugi stronger than before and he didn't like what he was feeling. It was almost as if Yugi were unconscious, which greatly worried the ancient Pharaoh.

"_Yugi,"_ Yami thought. _"Just hold on. I'm almost there."_

* * *

Amane's eyes had been fluttering close when she saw a change in Yugi's state. Her eyes shot open as Yugi slowly woke up and began to rub the back of his head.

"Yugi!" Amane exclaimed is relief.

"Augh. What happened? Why am I in your bed?"

"Azrael threw you against a wall and you fell unconscious." Amane replied solemnly.

"Oh…right…" The events came back to Yugi like a movie as he recalled Azrael's call to Yami. Yugi's hand felt his cheek as he rubbed the where the knife had been twice now.

Amane finally saw the two cuts and rushed to Yugi's side. "When did these happen?"

Yugi chuckled nervously. "I got the one when I first arrived here and the second when Azrael contacted Yami."

"I'll be right back. I think I have some First Aid stuff in one of the cabinets."

Amane ran off and disappeared into the sea of animals, leaving Yugi alone. He sat up and groaned, his head killing him. He then cursed himself for being so weak, for letting Azrael put another knife up to his body and then throwing him into a brick wall.

Then, Yugi felt something in his heart. A warm, familiar feeling that reminded him of home. A feeling that felt like it shouldn't have been in the In-Between…

Yugi gasped when he realized the familiar feeling was Yami and jumped out of bed and ran to the mirror Amane had shown him. Yugi ignored the pain in his head as he tore the velvet covering and gaped in horror. The mirror showed him Yami and Ryo following a…homeless man (?) past broken pieces of buildings and other objects. The ground beneath them was blood-red.

"Yugi! Where did you go?" Amane cried out desperately as she balanced her first aid equipment and teddy bear in both arms.

She looked down the hallway where the mirror was and saw the short teenager standing there, his soul giving of shock and worry. Amane wasn't sure if she wanted to know what Yugi had seen in the mirror but went down to him anyway.

"Yugi? W-What is it?"

"They're here. Both of them…" Yugi said cryptically.

"Huh?" Amane put down the medical equipment and looked into the mirror.

She gasped.

Amane saw a stitched up soul with a love of French fries leading two souls, one confident but scared and the other determined and scared, down a path bleeding with moans of forgotten things. Although she didn't recognize the stitched soul, she knew the ancient spirit's confidence and her brother's determination anywhere; and their path was the same thing she had seen outside the windows of the castle for ten Earth years.

"B-But how?" Amane asked.

"This must have been why Azrael called Yami for." Yugi said somberly.

"If you don't mind me asking," Yugi and Amane watched Ryo say. "Why aren't you like those shadow things that tried to attack us?"

Yugi and Amane held a breath when they heard that something had attacked the two men and then wondered who French Fry was supposed to be.

"That's an easy one, I like being in the In-Between." The homeless man/ stitched up soul said, leading Yugi and Amane to the conclusion that he was French Fry.

"How can you like being here?" Yami asked.

"Well…Earth wasn't such a great place for me. I mean, not many people like homeless guys. I felt unwanted by the world. One day I finally died, don't remember how or why, and I found myself here. This place like French Fry for who he was, and that was good enough for me. Those souls that attacked you didn't want to accept the fact that the world had forgotten them and went mad. If I had to guess, I'd say they were trying to destroy you and get the lives you had on Earth for themselves."

Amane and Yugi were confused, but knew whatever those shadow things were, it was bad. And from French Fry had said, it sounded like there were a lot of them outside the castle where Yami and Ryo were now running.

"What do we do?" Amane asked. "We can't leave them out there! Azrael has never let me go outside the castle! What if…what if something horrible happens to them?"

Amane was about to cry when Yugi said, "We believe in them. As long as we put all our faith into the idea that they will make it safely to the castle they'll be fine."

Amane looked up at Yugi and saw the soul of a man full of hope and determination. She quickly wiped her eyes and tried to think as positive as Yugi. The way she saw it, if someone like Yugi could see past all the odds, so could she. Plus, she really wanted to see Ryo again. She missed him.

"Alright, I believe!" Amane declared.

Yugi smiled. "That's all it takes."

* * *

Azrael looked out from his balcony, knowing somewhere below him Amane's brother and Yugi's other half were probably running for their lives form some horrible, forgotten beast.

"_That's where you're wrong…"_

Azrael jumped at the voice and then relaxed.

"Jeez, give a guy some warning before you decide to speak to me, Suha."

Suha was the name Azrael had given the voice of the In-Between long ago. It meant "forgotten or overlooked" in Arabic, quite fitting for the feminine voice. She had no body because the In-Between _was_ her body. Suha had only spoken to Azrael three times before; when he first tried to find a place between time and space, to tell him he had become forgotten like everything else that had ended up in the In-Between, and when Azrael wanted to make the In-Between a safe haven for Amane.

"_Why are there so many people coming here who have not been forgotten? I didn't mind Amane, although I still have no idea why you brought her here-"_

"She would have come here eventually." Azrael stated.

"…_What do you mean? She would have been a scientific revelation. Everyone would want to learn about her."_

"Exactly. Scientists would experiment on her, and then one of the experiments would go wrong and she'd die. Everyone would blame it on her condition and not the idiocy of the scientists and then they would all move on to a new freak of nature. Amane would eventually drift away until no one remembered who she was and then she'd end up here. I just wanted to cut out the middle man."

"…_Anyway, then I noticed you brought the vessel child here without my permission, which I let slide. Now I find out you've brought two more people in, except they aren't at your castle. What gives Azrael?"_

"I got bored."

"_Hmph. Why am I not surprised…?"_

"Those two men I've left out to the ferocity of the In-Between are here to rescue the vessel inside the castle. And maybe Amane, too. I'm not sure about her, though."

"_That little twerp? They came to this dangerous place to save him? Why?"_

"I don't know…but apparently he's a weakness to the older of the two gentlemen. Perhaps you've heard of the forgotten Pharaoh?"

"_Heard of him? I've been trying to find him for millennia! The only thing I could ever get was his name!"_

"Yeah, well, he's the older one.

"_You're shitting me!" _Suha exclaimed in disbelief. _"The pharaoh of legends has a weakness, and it's that little boy?"_

"Yep. The other man is Amane's older brother."

"_Really? He looks…different."_

"Well, he got older."

"_Oh yeah, he still lives on Earth. Well, why haven't you killed the vessel yet?"_

"How did you know I wanted to kill him?"

If Suha could have, she would have smirked. _"You've been here for quite a while Azrael. I know you as if you were a part of me, which, technically you are. When you get bored and you see someone who ticks you off for whatever reason you either want to kill them or someone the love."_

"Amane wouldn't let me. She said something bad would happen."

"_Which I'm sure only made you more curious."_

"It did."

"_So…kill him."_

"Ah, but the spirit and Ryo have just arrived, and you told me they weren't dead yet."

"_Yeah, some homeless guy who actually likes the In-Between is helping them."_

"Huh…weird."

"_Well, if you aren't just going to plain out kill him, have a little fun with it."_

"What are you suggesting?"

"_What was that title the Pharaoh has taken in modern times?"_

"The King of Games."

"_Yes…why don't you challenge him to a game? A game full of…_surprises_."_

"I'm listening."

Suha whispered a dark and twisted plan into Azrael's head that caused Azrael to smile wickedly.

"Brilliant! But…Amane will know of my intentions…"

"_Azrael, darling, I am the In-Between. I'll cloud your true intentions and emotions from her for a while. And while you play with the spirit I'm sure Ryo will be having a reunion with Amane that will distract her long enough."_

"Why are you helping me, Suha?"

"_I always help my forgotten ones."_

"It took you long enough."

"_Remember Azrael, while thousands of years have passed on Earth, the In-Between isn't even half way through its first night, which is why you do not get hungry or tired."_

"Well then, it still took you a couple of hours."

"_Heh, sorry."_

"That's fine. All we have to do now is wait for the pawns to come so we can play the final level of the game."

"_Are you the good guy or the bad guy?"_

"I'm the guy who will finally beat the forgotten Pharaoh."

Azrael and Suha then laughed at a joke only the most twisted person would find funny.

* * *

_Sarah: A hobo? Really?_

_Yep.^^ He's one of my new favorite characters. I love his name. And, yes, he has a deep love of French Fries._

_Sarah: Well, time to reply to the few comments you got because you keep updating too quickly._

_*BLUSHES* Sorry._

_Sarah: To **Super Special Awesome Attack**, YamiHeart and I love your name. _

_It's super special awesome! XD_

_Sarah: To **DarkChao1663**, Hey batta batta...*SMIRKS WITH BAT IN HAND*_

_AUGH! Don't hit DarkChao1663 with the bat they gave you! Their suggestion was very helpful!_

_Sarah: To** R.N. Walker**, Well, I'm so glad you don't mind dooming mandkind because of a FanFic._

_If it means anyhting, I'm happy it's my FF destroying the world._

_Sarah: To **Kairi**, YamiHeart is updating ridiculously quick, so don't worry about being lazy._

_That's it then, I guess._

_Sarah: Now stop typing for a little bit!_

_I CAN'T! XD_

_Sarah: You _can_ and you _will_._

_:( Please comment and come back next time, which should be soon..._

_Sarah: NO IT WON'T BE!_

_;P_


	8. Chapter 8

_WHOO HOO! Chapter 8! XD_

_Sarah: Oh joy. -_-_

_Try all you want Sarah but you can't darken my happy mood! XD_

_Sarah: Wanna bet?_

_*ANIME SWEAT DROP* Er...no. Just do the disclaimer._

_Sarah: YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! (What? did you ever think she did?)_

_Please enjoy.^^_

_Sarah: Ra damn happy mood... It's making me crankier..._

* * *

As French Fry led Yami and Ryo through the In-Between, something tugged at Yami. He hesitantly stopped following the direction Yugi was in and went towards a giant, yellow stone building. Ryo and French Fry shrugged and followed the spirit. When French Fry saw what had caught Yami's attention, he laughed.

"French Fry what is this place?" Yami asked, apparently not noticing the man's laughter.

"This thing has been here before the nose of the Great Sphinx!" French Fry replied. "None of us Forgotten know for sure what's inside, but we've silently agreed on the rumor that locked inside is a name."

"A name?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah the forgotten name of a very important fella. But, then again, it's just a rumor."

Yami was in trance-like state as he stared at the building. Something inside was calling to him, wanting him to open the single wooden door and discover what was beyond it. Yami was just about to pull on the handle when another feeling reminded him why he originally came to the In-Between. It felt as though something were _stinging_ Yugi.

Fear coursed through Yami as he bolted back in the direction French Fry had been leading him and Ryo. The homeless man and the brit didn't know what to make of the strange detour and decided to once again follow the spirit to wherever he was going.

* * *

"Ow!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Sorry," Amane said. "I warned you that it might sting."

Amane took the cotton swab with rubbing alcohol off of Yugi cut up cheek and replaced it with a band aid.

"I know, I know. But _still_…youch. I think that hurt more than when I originally got the cut."

Both children laughed at Yugi's statement.

"Well, I'm all done." Amane said as she packed away the medical equipment. "Now all we have to do is wait for Yami and Ryo to get here and get you as far away from Azrael as possible."

There was a minute silence as Amane continued to clean up and Yugi became lost in thought. A question came barreling into his mind and Yugi briefly debated with himself before deciding to ask it.

"Hey Amane?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you afraid of Azrael?"

Amane stopped her packing and there was a long silence before her response.

"Before he got interested in you, no. He didn't spend a whole lot of time with me, but he seemed like a genuinely good guy. But lately he's been changing so quickly I don't know how to react to him anymore. The first time I warned him not to kill you was for his own safety. Now I don't want him to kill you because…well…you're a nice person, a dependable person. One I know who won't suddenly change on me."

Yugi felt the mood in the room thicken uncomfortably at the honesty and sadness in Amane's words. Yugi couldn't help but feel guilty for Azrael's change in demeanor and wished he had never caught the attention of the easily bored man. Amane saw the guilt in Yugi and smiled sadly.

"See? There you go, acting just like I'd expect Yugi to. Only you'd blame yourself for someone else's issues."

"But you saw Azrael's thoughts and soul when you first went with him. He must have had a good heart then." Yugi retorted.

"His intentions were good then; that doesn't mean his heart is. And I know for a fact anyone who threatens to kill a pure soul repeatedly _doesn't_ qualify as good."

Amane's answers no longer seemed to be directed at Yugi and it took her a minute to realize what she had called Yugi.

"Is…is that what I look like through your eyes?" Yugi asked. Amane nodded, her hands covering her mouth. "Is that why he took me away from Yami?"

Amane sighed and shook her head. She seemed to age greatly as she said, "I guess you deserve to know everything since Yami and Ryo are here."

And so she did. Amane explained how much she knew of Azrael's real reasons for wanting to kill Yugi and Yugi listened patiently. His facial expression did not change, but Amane saw a whole other picture from Yugi's thoughts and soul.

"Is it true Amane? Am I really everyone's weak point?" Yugi finally asked when Amane had finished.

"Jonouchi, Anzu, Honda, and Yami for sure; others would be greatly troubled by your permanent absence at different degrees of intensity. All in all it would be a devastating event if Azrael succeeded in killing you."

Yugi was silent as more guilt welled up inside of him. He was deeply touched to know so many people cared about him, but also sad that his death would make so many hearts wrench in pain and agony. He didn't like to cause others pain, and so he made a promise to himself right there and then.

"_Then I will not die by Azrael's hands." _Yugi thought. _"I will make it out of the In-Between alive and embrace all my friends again so that they don't have to worry about me anymore."_

Amane smiled at seeing the thought. _"Acting just like I'd expect him to…"_

* * *

French Fry was now right next to Yami as they continued to go in the direction of Azrael's castle. Ryo stayed a little behind since he had no idea where he was going and marveled at how Yami seemed to know the path to Azrael's layer like he had taken it hundreds of times before.

"_He can probably sense Yugi even though they've been separated for a while."_ Bakura stated bluntly inside of Ryo's mind.

"_I thought you said you wouldn't help or hinder me."_

"_I'm just pointing out the obvious you idiotic hikari."_

Ryo felt Bakura once again withdraw into the ring and realized he saw a grey castle on the horizon.

"French Fry!" Ryo called out. "Is that it? Is that Azrael's castle?"

"Sure is. Both of your little friends are in there with the listener of Suha."

"Who?" Ryo and Yami asked as they both quickened their pace towards the medieval building.

"Suha, the voice of the In-Between. I've never heard it myself, nor have any of the other Forgotten, but apparently it's how Azrael originally found this place."

Yami wasn't really sure what to make of the information, but stored it away in his brain in case something about this Suha came up later. Ryo did the same as they finally approached their destination.

The three men stopped in front of a giant, black, cast-iron door that led inside. French Fry grabbed his knees and panted heavily, not used to so much running. Ryo and Yami waited for the hobo to catch his breath before grabbing the handle and opening the door that would lead them to Yugi and Amane.

"Why ain't ya going?" French Fry asked.

"We're waiting for you." Ryo replied.

French Fry shook his head. "This is where we depart. I heard the last time a Forgotten tried getting inside of there they got lost in an endless maze. I don't know if it's something you two should worry about, seeing as Azrael invited you, but I'm confident something would happen to me in there."

Yami thought about it and realized French Fry was probably right when more shadows came from behind a giant rock that had been eroded away a long time ago. French Fry stood firm, but the creatures didn't seemed fazed. They came straight for the frozen Ryo and Yami, causing French Fry to yell, "Go!"

"But…" Ryo protested.

French Fry flashed the two of them a grin as he said, "I'm already dead Ryo. I'm a forgotten guy with no place to go and nothing left to accomplish. You two, on the other hand, are alive with friends and families counting on you inside that castle. Now go before these shadows get ya!"

Yami nodded and thrust the door open. Ryo hesitated for only a second before following Yami through the door as it closed with a loud "Thud". From outside, French Fry's muffled commands and scratches against the door could be came through to Yami and Ryo's ears. Then, all the noise abruptly stopped and the two men held their breath, hoping to hear some sign of French Fry.

"You two better not be there!" French Fry yelled, followed by a hearty laugh. "'Cause then I'd think you didn't believe in ol' French Fry."

Yami and Ryo smiled in relief and turned around. There, a large flight of stairs showed them the way up to higher portions of the castle. Yami and Ryo went up them, the thought of seeing their loved ones again driving them forward.

* * *

"So, they made it to the castle? And here I thought the outside of the castle would be a bit more dangerous. Perhaps it was that hobo leading them or something." Azrael commented to himself.

He got up from his perch on the balcony and stretched, much like a cat. He walked into the castle and made his way to Amane's room, continuing his conversation with himself as he went.

"I guess I better go get Yugi so I can prepare for the final battle. I doubt Amane will be happy, but I have ways of subduing her if necessary. I wonder if this will be as much fun as it is in my head. I really, _really_ hope it is because in my head this is will be like a day at the carnival."

Azrael smirked as he approached the open door to Amane's room and walked in. He moved his way through the hordes of animals as he searched for the two young children. Azrael finally found them cleaning up some board game and put on his nicest smile.

"Hello you two." Azrael said, getting the youngster's attention.

"Azrael." Amane replied, not looking up from the pieces of the game. Yugi remained silent, grabbing the board itself and folding it so it would fit in the box.

"Did you know that Yami and Ryo are here?"

Neither looked up from what they were doing.

"Yes." Amane said flatly. "You brought them to the In-Between and they met some guy named French Fry outside the castle."

"Oh, well then, I guess you also know they successfully made it inside the castle."

This got their attention.

"What?" Yugi exclaimed.

"You didn't? Huh, well they came in not too long ago and are making their way up here."

"What do you want Azrael?" Amane asked coldly.

"Amane, that hurt. Why do you seem so cold?"

Amane had decided that if Yugi was going to survive, she needed to stop treating Azrael like he was her brother. She had a brother, one who was kind and kind of a pushover and was coming to take her back home. She needed to erase all feelings of safety and warmth associated with Azrael because such feelings were no longer being given by him.

"Every time you come here you hurt Yugi."

"Every time?"

"_Every_ time." Amane's glare was cold, although it was extremely uncomfortable for her.

"Hm…I guess you're right. And I'm sorry to say, but this time is no different."

In a flash, Azrael had grabbed Yugi around the waist and covered the teenager's mouth with a chloroform covered rag. Yugi struggled to get free, but he could feel his consciousness slipping.

"Yugi!" Amane exclaimed. She ran towards Azrael, who just frowned.

"I was truly hoping I wouldn't have to do this to you, Amane dear. But you leave me no choice."

Azrael repositioned his arm around Yugi's waist so that it held the rag and the boy and used the other hand to grab something out of his back pocket. He then opened his palm and blew, sprinkling a purple dust all over Amane. Amane felt her eyelids getting heavy and fell to the ground, tightly gripping her teddy bear.

"Amame!" Yugi cried out through the gag.

"Don't worry; she'll wake up unharmed. _You_, on the other hand, are going to be very injured, hopefully dead, when I'm done."

Azrael laughed wickedly as Yugi did the only thing he could think of: call out for Yami.

"_YAMI! Yami, help! Please! Yami! …Yami…Yami…Ya…mi…"_

Yugi went limp in Azrael's arms, signaling that the chloroform had taken affect. Azrael smiled and left the room with the lifeless teenager's body.

"A day at the carnival… I can't wait."

* * *

French Fry had been right, there _was_ a maze in the castle. Yami and Ryo had found out the hard way after getting lost almost instantly. After the stairs there were millions of hallways that all looked the same. It reminded Yami of the labyrinth of the puzzle, except with no doors and not as many stairs. Ryo had once suggested that they split up, but Yami instantly dismissed it.

"It wouldn't be wise to separate in the enemy's territory." Yami had said. "Who knows if both of us would ever get out again?"

Ryo had nodded, seeing that the spirit's reasoning made sense, but they still hadn't made any progress. It was when the two of them were walking a hallway that looked no different from the others that Yami felt _it_.

Yami clutched his heart as it screamed in pain and fell to his knees. Ryo bent down next to the pharaoh in a vain attempt to cease the pain (he's just that kind of guy, ya know?).

"What is it Yami? What's wrong?" Ryo asked.

"I-It's Yugi. I…I think he trying to contact me."

"What's he saying?"

"I can't make out the words, our mindlink is still severed. But none of the emotions he's sending me are good. I can feel pain and worry and…"

"And what?" Ryo was really anxious now, both for Yugi and Amane's safety.

Yami's eyes grew wide with fear. "And…nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Something's happened. Azrael has done something to Yugi." Yami got up and grabbed Ryo's arm as he began to follow a path Yugi's desperate cries had left.

"Wh-Where are we going?"

"The message Yugi was trying to send me left a path to his point of origin." Yami responded.

"It doesn't make sense. Why would Azrael do anything to Yugi if he just wants to play a game?"

"He doesn't."

"I don't understand…"

Yami sighed. "I didn't want to tell anyone, but when Azrael took Yugi he showed no hesitation to hurting him. In fact, Azrael promised me if I took too long Yugi would be dead."

Ryo was speechless as he tried to process the information Yami had just told him. If Azrael could be violent then…

Yami quickened his pace, both to hopefully find Yugi and hopefully get Ryo to Amane faster. Ryo silently thanked the spirit as they took turns and paths without even stopping to think. Finally, the trail led into a door, which both took as a positive sign.

They hesitantly approached and saw all the lights were still on. Heaps of animals covered the ground, creating a miniature maze across the plush carpet. Still, Yami seemed to know where he was going and eventually came to a clearing. The first thing Yami noticed was that the trail abruptly ended, meaning something had happened to Yugi here. Ryo, on the other hand, noticed something much different.

"Amane!" Ryo ran to the little girl's still body and cradled her in his arms.

Yami quickly followed and asked, "Is she okay."

"She…she's just asleep." Ryo replied. Both of them let out a sigh knowing that the young girl seemed to be unharmed. "But…where's Yugi?"

Yami looked down at the floor, unsure of what to do now that his lead had come up empty. Amane then fidgeted as her eyes slowly cracked open.

"Amane!" Ryo exclaimed, causing Yami's gaze to look back up.

It took a second for Ryo's voice to register in Amane's head. "Ry…o?"

Ryo hugged Amane again as a few tears streamed down his face. "Yes, it's me, Ryo."

Amane sleepily smiled and hugged Ryo back. Yami watched respectfully in silence although his mind was screaming at him to go find Yugi. When the sibling's detached from one another, Amane looked at Yami and her eyes shot open.

"Yugi! Oh my god!" Amane sprang to her feet and raced around, trying to get her thoughts in order.

"Wait! What about Yugi?" Yami asked.

Amane calmed down and looked Yami in the eyes with her sad ones. "Azrael took him. Before Azrael blew some sort of powder on me to make me sleep he grabbed Yugi and started to gag him with a rag. I-I…"

Amane broke down crying and Ryo quickly re-embraced her into his arms. Ryo gently petted Amane's soft hair as he whispered soothing "Shhhhh's". Yami was already back up and starting to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Ryo asked.

"I have to find Yugi. If something happens to him I…"

"Azrael probably took Yugi to his room. I-It's the only other place I've ever seen Azrael. If you go down the hall and take to lefts and then five rights, you should get there." Amane said as she attempted to wipe away her tears.

Yami nodded his head and said, "Thank you."

"Please save Yugi. He's my friend and I don't want him to get hurt." Amane said as another wave of tears threatened to fall.

"Don't worry Amane; I have every intention of getting him home safely." With that, Yami dashed out of the room and to where he hoped to finally find Yugi.

* * *

_Yeah... sorry their time with French Fry wasn't very long. I kind of figured that since the only things really outside the castle were depressed souls (not many of them are as optimistic as French Fry^^) and forgotten objects, not a whole lot would happen out there._

_Sarah: Yeha, yeah. Blah, blah, blah. REVIEW REPLY TIME!_

_Oh joy...^^;_

_Sarah: To **Assassin Massie, **You're suggestion was considered, and here's my response: "I see you driving 'round town with the girl I love and I'm like FU-"_

_AUGH! I _knew _I shouldn't have let you listen to the real lyrics! And that response doesn't even make sense!_

_Sarah: You caught me. I just wanted to say FU-_

_JUST CONTINUE!_

_Sarah *SMIRK* To **R.N. Walker**, I'm glad you said Suha is ALMOST as scary as me. Looks like SOME people respect me._

_Uh huh..._

_Sarah: To **Kiyasu**, I know you were only a chapter 3 when you commented, but YamiHeart still made me say something to you so...hi._

_*SIGH* I guess you could've said worse..._

_Sarah: To **Kairi**, yes, yes. Everyone loves French Fry. -_-_

_I should find a way to bring him back...I like him too.^^_

_Sarah: To **ThiefOfHearts**, Suha is a girl. AND WHY DOES EVERYONE GET TO BE AN ASSASSIN BUT ME?_

_The world would probably implode if you were given devices to kill people...-_-_

_Sarah: To **DarkChao1663**, Yes, I too enjoy knowing who the unfortunate sucker is. *COUGH* YamiHeart. *COUGH*_

_Hey! _

_Sarah: To **zackmaniac**, What are you talking about? Azrael's the nicest guy I've ever met! XD_

_...No suprise there._

_Sarah: Hey!_

_X) Do you all see something that let's you comment? I'd liek you to hit it and leave me one, nice or not._

_Sarah: Not! NOT!_

_And I hope to see you all again next chapter._

_Sarah: NOT!_

_X( BYE! :D_


	9. Chapter 9

_Hello everyone! This'll probably be the last, super-quick update, but I'm not ending the story so don't worry. I'll still try to update as soon as possible but...yeah.^^;_

_Sarah: Yay. Your first duel chapter. -_-_

_I know! I'm really worried about how it turned out because I'm not sure if it makes sense at points! I had to actually take two decks and play out what was happening!_

_Sarah: Sad. Just sad. I'll think I'll just go and do the disclaimer._

_Um...okay._

_Sarah: YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!_

_Please enjoy chapter (OMR! Really?) 9!_

* * *

Yami ran down the hall, taking the two lefts and five rights Amane had instructed, and came to another doorway. Yami stopped, took a deep breath, and calmly walked into the room. The room had dramatically changed from the last time Yugi had been there. The silks that had hung on the wall had been shredded and their scraps had been left on the floor. The bed had been smashed along with the desk and the only thing illuminating the place was the faint glow of the moon from behind the closed curtains. From the shadows Azrael emerged a psychotic, toothy grin on his face.

"Azrael." Yami growled dangerously.

Azrael laughed. "That is I."

"Where is Yugi? Let him go! If it's me you want-"

"Wrong. I don't want you, I want to defeat you. And after watching you for quite a while, I've come to the conclusion that taking Yugi away is the best bet I have of accomplishing such a feat."

Azrael's posture was very uncharacteristic for the usually properly posed man. His back was hunched over and he let his arms dangle freely at his sides. Even though Yami hadn't seen the room's decor before, he knew it was wrong. It was obvious to the ancient spirit that something had happened to Azrael, but he didn't know what.

"I'll ask you again. Where is Yugi?"

"If you want to know you'll have to duel me." Azrael said in a sing-song voice.

Yami instantly felt stupid. How could he forget his dueldisk and deck? His sword and shield? Azrael laughed again as he watched the pharaoh's reaction.

"Don't worry; I'll get them for you." Azrael opened a mini portal to his side and reached his hand inside. When he retracted his hand, Azrael geld a dueldisk with Yami's deck inside. Azrael threw the piece of machinery at the spirit, who promptly caught it. A dueldisk then materialized on Azrael's left arm with a deck of 40 cards of Azrael's own creation. The field was set, but Yami was still wary about the duel.

"What are the terms if I win?" Yami asked.

"Yugi lives."

"And if I lose?"

"He dies."

"What's the catch?"

"Heh…if I told you it'd ruin the surprise. Come on! Let's duel! Or are you afraid to lose?"

Azrael activated his dueldisk and Yami did the same. "Sorry Azrael, but I have every intention of winning and getting Yugi back."

Azrael put his head down so that his bangs shadowed his eyes but his smile still showed. _"Just wait 'till you see the catch you asked me about. Once you do, you'll question if winning is even worth it!"_

"Let's duel!" Both men said simultaneously.

**Azrael: 4000 LP**

**Yami: 4000 LP**

"I'll start!" Azrael announced as he drew six cards. Azrael smirked. His hand was good.

"First I summon Forgotten Shadow in defense mode!"

**Forgotten Shadow: ATK/500 DEF/2000 Level: 4 Normal Dark Monster **

_**A soul forgotten by time that turned to darkness for comfort, it will not hesitate to kill someone who has friends and family.**_

Yami gasped as a shadow creature much like the ones that had been chasing Ryo, French Fry, and him appeared onto the field.

"Shocked? Now I play Shadow Summoning!"

**Shadow Summoning: if you have a "Forgotten Shadow" on your field, regardless of position, you may summon three more in attack mode to the field.**

Three more shadow's appeared on the field, all ready to tear Yami apart.

"Then I place two cards face down and end my turn."

"I draw!" Yami announced as he drew his sixth card.

Yami studied his hand and decided to summon Feral Imp in attack mode to get rid of at least one of the Forgotten Shadows. He knew very well of Azrael's face down cards and played Magic Jammer face down on the field just in case.

"Alright, Feral Imp, attack the Forgotten Shadow farthest to the right!"

**Feral Imp: ATK/1300 DEF/1400 Level: 4 Normal Dark Monster **

_**A playful little fiend that lurks in the dark, waiting to attack an unwary enemy.**_

Feral Imp destroyed the attack mode Forgotten Shadow without a problem, causing Azrael's life points to drop by 800.

**Azrael: 3200 LP**

Yami was confused that Azrael didn't stop the attack with either of his facedown cards when he suddenly felt something get ripped from his brain. Yami held his head in pain as he tried to figure out what had just happened when he saw the Millennium Puzzle dangle from his neck. Normally this wouldn't have registered as anything strange in the spirit's mind, but when he realized he couldn't remember how it came to be around his neck, in turn meaning he forgot when he first met Yugi, Yami's face was drained of all color.

Azrael laughed. "I see you've discovered the little 'catch' I threw in, hm?"

"What did you do?" Yami bellowed.

"Temper, temper." Azrael made a "tisk, tisk" motion with his finger as he spoke. "If you want me to tell you you'll have to ask nicely."

"Tell me!"

"Fine, fine." Azrael laughed again, unable to contain the joy he felt by pissing of the spirit. "You see, every time you deal damage to me, a portion of your memory of Yugi is wiped away."

"No!"

"And not just you; everyone who has ever come in contact with the little munchkin is losing their memories as we speak. I doubt anyone can recall how they first met Yugi at this moment, and if you win no one will be able to remember him at all!"

* * *

It had been two days since Jonouchi and the gang had found the letter on the door to the game shop letting them know Yami had found a way to the In-Between. They weren't exactly thrilled to know the spirit had just left without them, but knew there was nothing they could do about it anyway. So now they sat in class, Jonouchi and Honda not even attempting to pay attention as the teacher nagged away.

That's when it hit the three teens. Something was getting ripped from their memories, something they all knew was important to their hearts. A still of Yugi flashed before their eyes and then disappeared into a forgotten memory. All three stood up on instinct, resulting in the teacher giving them all detention. The teens didn't really care, though, as they sat back down and prayed for Yami and Yugi's safety.

* * *

Amane and Ryo had been sitting amongst the stuffed animals, reconnecting after years of separation. Fuzzy feelings of sibling love rekindled within the two as they finally sat face to face and had a conversation. Ryo told Amane everything that had happened since she had left, and Amane listened although she had already watched most if it through the mirror.

"-And that's when I met…" Ryo stopped as something was ripped from his memory. Amane felt the same sensation as she forgot everything about Yugi she had seen through the mirror up to when she had met him personally for the first time.

"How…how did I meet Yugi?" Ryo asked as he tried to continue his story but found he couldn't.

"I…I can't remember how I met Yugi either!" Amane cried out in disbelief.

A moment of silent agreement passed between the two siblings as they both knew this had something to do with Azrael. They both sprang to their feet and Amane led Ryo to the door to find that it had been locked shut.

"What?" Amane exclaimed as she tried in vain to get it open. Ryo also tried to open the door, but had less luck then Amane.

"We're stuck in here! Do you think Azrael locked the door?"

"No doubt about it. Which means whatever he's doing is much worse than I thought. Come with me." Amane grabbed Ryo's arm and led him down the dead-end hallway that her mirror stood in.

"What's this?" Ryo asked as Amane pulled the velvet covering off.

"It's a mirror that lets me see whoever I want. Usually I used it to watch you on Earth, but I'm sure it'll let me see other places in the In-Between as well."

Sure enough, the mirror showed Ryo and Amane looking into it.

"Alright. Show me Azrael." Amane commanded.

The mirror's image changed to reveal Azrael in his trashed room across from Yami. They were starting to talk, so Ryo and Amane listened intently.

* * *

"So, what will you choose in the end Yami? Will you win and save Yugi, but have no idea who he is? Or will you lose the duel and let everyone mourn over his death? Decisions, Decisions…"

Yami remained silent as his heart twisted at the painful revelation. There was no doubt in Yami's mind that he would win, but would he make it through all the pain first? He didn't want to forget Yugi, his aibou. But if that's what he had to do to make sure Yugi lived, he would.

"I…I play another card face down and end my turn." Yami said solemnly.

**Azrael: 3200 LP**

**Yami: 4000 LP**

Azrael drew another card and laughed inwardly. _"Excellent! Now all the pieces are in place…"_

"I play one card face down and end my turn." Azrael announced.

Yami drew Queen's Knight and summoned her to the field. Then he activated his face down card, Horn of The Unicorn, and played it on his female knight.

**Queen's Knight: ATK/2200 DEF/2300 (Due to the effects of Horn of the Unicorn.) Level 4 Normal Light Monster **

_**This knight catches her opponents off guard, dominating them with swift yet graceful attacks.**_

**Horn of the Unicorn: Increase the ATK and DEF of a monster equipped with this card by 700. When this card is sent to your Graveyard, return it to the top of your deck.**

"Queen's Knight! Attack the Forgotten Shadow in defense mode! Feral Imp! Destroy the Forgotten Shadow on the left!"

Both attacks were successful, which meant Azrael lost another 800 LP and everyone else lost another memory.

**Azrael: 2400 LP**

The duel in which Yami fought Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom flashed through Yami's memory and disappeared, leaving him to wonder what had stopped him from killing the CEO all that time ago.

"What did you lose this time, spirit? Is it a memory that you'll be clawing at to remember, or don't you mind discarding it?"

It pained Yami to know he and everyone else were forgetting their best friend. It felt like a knife was stabbing the spirit in the heart every time a memory flitted away from him, and he could only imagine the others were feeling the same. The last thing he wanted was for everyone to forget Yugi completely, but he couldn't figure out a way to stop the memory wiping.

"Grrr…I play one card face down and end my turn." Yami declared.

**Azrael: 2400 LP**

**Yami: 4000 LP**

Azrael drew a card and decided it was time to unfold his strategy.

"Are you ready Yami? Because I'm going to show you the strategy of nightmares! First I'll get rid of your two facedown cards with my facedown trap, Erase!"

**Erase: Destroy all face down cards on your opponent's side of the field.**

A giant eraser came from Azrael's side of the field and destroyed Yami's two facedown cards.

"Then I activate the face down spell, Forgotten!" Azrael proclaimed with pride.

**Forgotten: Discard one "Forgotten Shadow" from the field to the Graveyard. If because this "Forgotten Shadow" goes to the Graveyard there are now four "Forgotten Shadow's" in the Graveyard, summon "Suha, the Voice of the In-Between" to the field.**

The last remaining Forgotten Shadow wen to the Graveyard and was replaced by a woman. The woman was beautiful with long, flowing, black hair and eyes that twinkled like stars. Her clothing was made up of mismatched pieces of junk and cloth and from her knees down her legs were caked with blood and mud.

**Suha, the Voice of the In-Between: ATK/2700 DEF/2600 Level 8 Effect Dark Monster.**

**This card cannot be normal summoned, set summoned, or any other summon, except by the activation of "Forgotten". If there are four "Forgotten Shadows" in your Graveyard, special summon them to the field with 1500 extra attack points. These monsters cannot attack your opponent's life points directly. **

The four Forgotten Shadows that had been sent to the graveyard came back to the field, each one now with 2000 attack points. Yami was stunned at just how fast the game had shifted to Azrael's favor.

"Suha! Attack Queen's Knight! Forgotten Shadow number 3! Attack Feral Imp!"

With no facedown cards, Yami could do nothing but watch as his two monsters were torn apart by Azrael's. The damage totaled up to 1200 and Yami half expected to hear Yugi's scream come from an unseen chamber. Yami was relieved when he didn't.

**Yami: 2800 LP**

"And with that I end my turn."

Yami glared at Azrael as he drew his next card and analyzed what he had. Due to the effects of Horn of the Unicorn, that was the next card he drew. With no other choice, Yami activated Pot of Greed to get some more cards in his hand.

**Pot of Greed: Draw 2 cards from your deck.**

"Are you truly that desperate, forgotten pharaoh?" A woman's voice asked.

Yami's head jolted up to see Suha grinning right at him.

"Wha…"

"What? You've never had a woman talk to you before?" Suha asked. "I'll give you a hint: we don't like it when you gawk at us."

"Let me clarify for you, spirit." Azrael said. "Suha's name isn't something I just made up; there truly is a voice of the In-Between that I named Suha. This card is just her personified."

"How do you do?" Suha did a mini curtsy toward Yami and smiled wickedly.

"She, too, has an interest in your little vessel."

"Azrael! You gave away the secret!" Suha scolded. Azrael just laughed like a maniac and said, "I know."

"What do you want with Yugi?" Yami asked, although he was starting to wonder who Yugi was to him exactly.

Suha sighed. "See that?" Suha pointed her thumb back at Azrael, who couldn't stop laughing. "He's not like when you first met him, right?"

Yami nodded.

"Well, that's because all this time I've been eating away at his sanity."

"What?"

"It all started all those Earth years ago when I first saw Azrael trying to find a place between time and space. He was a nobody with questionable sanity and so no one missed him as he soon drifted from their memories and into the In-Between. The day after Azrael had first come to the In-Between he died, don't ask me how because I don't know, but because he came here before dying I could recreate his body here and put his soul into it. The poor dear still thinks he's alive, well, he would if he thought logically anymore."

"But why would you-"

"Eat away at his sanity? Because as the voice of the In-Between, that's what I feed on. Of course, there isn't much left for me and so I need someone to take his place."

"No…" Yami whispered as he realized what Suha was getting at.

"There are only two requirements to be my next meal, and one of them is quite simple: be dead. I always considered making _you_ Azrael's replacement, but _Yugi_ seemed like _much_ more fun…"

"NO! I will defeat you!"

"How? How do you plan on getting out of this one 'Game King'?" Suha asked mockingly.

Yami looked at his two new cards for the first time and gasped. _That_ was how he was going to win. Yami looked up at Suha with new found confidence gleaming in his eyes.

"You'll see." Yami said as he was about to play his trump card.

Suha just smiled. _"No matter what you do forgotten pharaoh, you lose. Maybe you should have asked me the _other_ requirement. The fact that the person also has to be _forgotten_…"_

_So...my first duel sequence. How was it? If anything confused you or you have any suggestions on how to make it better, please don't hesitate to tell me!_

_Sarah: Whatever. Reply review time!_

_What? Is this the only thing you look forward to during the day? _

_Sarah:...I plead the fifth._

_*SIGH* Just go ahead._

_Sarah: To **Assassin** **Massie,** YES! BROWNIES! XD_

_*MUNCH* Hm?_

_Sarah: To **R.**, Well, at this point, who knows if Yugi will live or not?_

_*RAISES HAND* I do. X)_

_Sarah: To **DarkHeartInTheSky**, Since YamiHeart enjoys sleeping at night, she refuses to write Yaoi._

_It's not that I wouldn't jump at the chance to torture Yugi. It's just that Yaoi gives me nightmares. Especially LEMONS!_

_Sarah: To **ThiefOfHearts**, PSST. Luna. Hand me the knife, Assassin Buddy._

_Assassi- you know what? I'm not even going to ask._

_Sarah: To **Kairi**, I'm WHAT? *EYES BURST INTO FLAMES*_

_OMR! Fire! *SPRAYS SARAH DOWN WITH A FIRE EXTINGUISHER*_

_Sarah: Grrrrr..._

_Whoopsie. Um, anyway, please comment! Good, bad, or ugly, it makes me happy to know you took the time to tell me something._

_Sarah: But I tell you bad stuff all the time and it doesn't waste any of my own time._

_:( Hope to see you next chapter for the thrilling conclusion of Azrael and Yami's duel! (And in case you're wondering, at this point I figure Suha's doing most of the dueling for Azrael since he's...you know...)_


	10. Chapter 10

Well, here's chapter 10. Holy crap! 10 chapters already? O_o

_Sarah: 10. Crummy. Chapters. Huzzah. -_-_

_Deal with it Sarah and do the disclaimer so that people can read what happens next._

_Sarah: Won't they be dissappointed...X) YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!_

_What did you mean by...? Never mind. Please enjoy.^^_

**

* * *

****Azrael: 2400 LP**

**Yami: 2800 LP**

"I place one card face down and summon Big Shield Gardna in defense mode and end my turn."Yami announced.

**Big Shield Gardna: ATK/100 DEF/2600 Level 4 Effect Earth Monster**

_**Negate the activation of a spell card that designates this 1 face-down monster. At that time, flip this card into face-up defense position. If this card is attacked, change the battle position of this card to attack position at the end of the damage step.**_

"Is that all the fight you have left, Pharaoh?" Suha asked. "No matter. Azrael! Order me to attack the shield monster!"

"Can't." Azrael replied.

"What? Why?"

"I have to draw a card first, silly." Suha sighed as Azrael drew a card from his deck and put it in his hand. Azrael carefully analyzed his cards before stating, "Yep. You can attack him now, Suha."

Suha smiled as she came towards Big Shied Gardna, hand outstretched and ready to kill. Yami smirked sadly as he said, "Face down card reveal. Magic Cylinder."

**Magic Cylinder (Trap): **_**Negate the attack of 1 monster your opponent controls and inflict damage to your opponent equal to its attack.**_

"What?" Suha exclaimed as her arm and body were sucked into a floating cylinder. She was then shot out of a similar cylinder and at Azrael. Azrael's life points took a major hit, a big enough hit to end the game.

**Azrael: -300 LP**

"_I'm sorry Yugi." _Yami thought. _"But at least you'll be safe. And I'm sure that over time you can regain everyone's memories."_

The field began to disappear, Suha along with it. She cackled as she faded away, knowing well what she was going to do next.

"So, you won. Poo poo, I really wanted to beat you too. Oh well. Say goodbye to your memories." Azrael said teasingly.

Yami cried out in pain and fell to his knees as all the memories of Yugi were torn from his heart. Tears fell from his eyes as pictures flew by of all the major duels the two of them had fought together. Everyone who had ever come in contact with the young boy was also feeling the same pain at varying levels. Screams of agony came from all over the world as the name "Yugi Mutou" was ripped from people's hearts and scattered into the wind.

Then, as soon as the pain came; it vanished, leaving many confused people. Yami stood up slowly and looked at Azrael, who was grinning crazily, with a lost look on his face.

"Whoops!" Azrael exclaimed. "Almost forgot! Hold on, I'll go get your little Aibou."

* * *

The first time Yugi opened his eyes, he had to blink them a couple times to make sure he had actually opened them. He had woken up to darkness before, but never to anything _this_ dark. Yugi couldn't even see his hands when they were right in front of his face, nonetheless where he was.

Yugi sat up, or was pretty sure that he did, and tried to adjust his eyes to the unending blackness but found that he couldn't. There was no light for his eyes to pick up, leaving him a blind man.

The thought that maybe he was dead crept into Yugi's mind and sent shivers down his spine. If he was dead, this was one afterlife he was not expecting. He felt the ground around him and was met with a cold, metallic surface. Did any religions speak of sitting on metal when your soul passed on? Yugi couldn't recall, but that didn't rule out the possibility of his death.

Yugi thought over the last thing he could remember and realized he had passed out in Azrael's arms. Not good, not good at all. Suddenly the idea of being dead was becoming more and more likely.

Yugi stood up and felt around nervously, hoping to find some sort of door handle or other indication that he was still alive. That's when a bright flash of light came from out of nowhere. Yugi had to shield his eyes with his arm so that he didn't go blind from the sudden change from complete darkness to blinding flash. When Yugi put his arm down and his eyes adjusted, he was surprised to see Azrael surrounded by tattered cloth, but what really caught Yugi's eye was the man behind Azrael with starfish-like hair.

"Yami!" Yugi exclaimed as he ran towards his long-separated other half. Yugi embraced the ancient spirit in a hug and said, "I missed you so much! But I knew you'd pull through for me, I knew it!"

It was then that Yugi realized his hug wasn't being returned. Yugi looked up and was met with two genuinely confused eyes.

"Um…do I know you?" Yami asked.

The words hit Yugi like a slap in the face as he let go and backed away a couple steps. "Wh-What are you talking about Yami?" Yugi could feel tears prick at his eyes, but he was determined not to let them drop until he knew what was going on.

Yami didn't get it. This child looked a lot like him and even knew his name, but Yami had no idea who the smaller version of him was. The little one looked like he was about to cry, which caused Yami's heart to bunch up. Why did he care if this child cried or not? Was he important?

When Yugi received no reply, he said, "Yami, it's me. Yu-"

Yugi never finished his sentence. Yami watched in horror as his little lookalike fell to the ground, a knife in his back. Azrael watched with pure delight from behind and laughed maniacally as he pulled the knife out. Crimson started to stain the floor as the boy didn't get up.

"Why did you do that?" Yami exclaimed, every fiber in his body telling him to help the small one.

"He was my friend." Azrael stated bluntly before bursting into laughter again. "But he was a backstabber! Backstabber! Backstabber! Oh, wait. _I'm_ a back stabber too." More laughing. "Backstabbers must be punished."

Azrael then stabbed himself repeatedly, laughing the whole time. His blood splashed upon everything until finally he hit his heart, stopping the maniac for good. Yami continued to stand there, unsure of what to do.

"_Do not worry about either of them."_ Suha's voice said.

Yami swiveled around and tried to find her.

"_Ha ha. Don't worry, you aren't going crazy. I truly am a disembodied voice." _

Yami relaxed a little and asked, "Who's the little one Azrael stabbed?"

"_Him? Oh, just an insane inhabitant of the In-Between. He probably saw you and thought you were his brother or something."_

"But he knew my name."

"_Oh please, everyone in the In-Between knows your name."_

"Well, what's his?"

"_Huh?"_

"His name. What's the little one's name?"

"_Oh. Uri."_

Uri? Damn it, Yami didn't know anyone named Uri. And he was so hoping that he had known the child…but, why? Why did he want to know him? Why did his heart yearn to know Uri?

"If that's all then, how about you let Ryo, Amane, and I go home?"

"_Ah, yes, of course. There's a portal where you first entered the In-Between waiting to take you all home."_

"Thank you." Yami was about to turn around and leave, but found his heart just wouldn't let him. "Um…are you sure Uri is going to be alright?"

"_Don't worry about it. I'm fixing his body soon after you leave so that his soul will have somewhere to go and he won't end up like those shadow things outside."_

Yami smiled in relief. "Alright then. I'll go get Ryo and his sister and leave."

Yugi could feel his life force slip away as he lay on the ground. He painfully forced his head up and opened his eyes to see Yami leaving him behind. Yugi reached his hand towards his other half and weakly whispered, "Ya…mi…"

Suha heard Yugi's desperate cries and willed the knife to come out of Azrael and into Yugi's back again. Yugi felt his world become blurry and black as tears fell from his eyes. What had happened? Did Yami not care about him anymore? Had Yami truly forgotten him or did he say that so he wouldn't have to save Yugi? These were the last heart-wrenching thoughts Yugi had before he fell asleep and didn't wake up.

* * *

Yami approached Amane's room, guilt eating at his heart. Maybe he should have at least told Uri it would be alright, since Uri thought he was his brother and all. Yami was still thinking deeply as he came to Ryo and Amane, who were playing chess in the stuffed animal clearing.

"Hey Yami!" Ryo exclaimed as Amane moved her piece.

"Check mate." Amane announced.

Ryo starred dumbfounded at the game his little sister had just beaten him at.

"Perfect timing you two, we can go home now. I defeated Azrael and this woman named Suha opened a portal back home outside the castle where we first landed."

"That's great!" Amane said happily as she picked up the game. "Ryo and I saw most of the duel through a mirror, but we didn't see the end."

Yami didn't know what Amane was talking about, but smiled and nodded anyway. "Um…Ryo? Amane?"

"Yeah?" The two Bakura's answered in unison.

"Do either of you know a Uri?" Yami asked.

Ryo and Amane looked at each other and shook their heads. "Can't say that we have Yami. Why?"

"Oh…nothing." Yami figured it wasn't important for them to know about the death of someone they had never heard of. Wait, why did he say death? Suha told him Uri would be fine. Maybe it was just because Yami was used to people dying when they got stabbed in the back. Or…maybe it was something else…

"Done. Now, come on! Let's go!" Amane exclaimed as she ran out of her room. Ryo and Yami looked at each other and smiled before following her.

The maze that had first hindered Ryo and Yami was no longer present and it was a straight path down to get out of the castle. After walking for a while, a familiar face popped up from behind one of the miscellaneous structures.

"Hey you guys!" French Fry yelled as he ran over and gave Ryo a big hug. Ryo hesitantly hugged the homeless man back, making Yami remember Uri and the hug he had given the spirit. "I knew you guys could get your friends- hey. There's only one."

French Fry bent down and ruffled Amane's hair, causing her to giggle.

"What do you mean 'there's only one'?" Yami asked.

French Fry looked at Yami and stood up. "When you guys first came here and I told you Azrael had taken two people, you said they were your friends. I figured you were going to rescue them both…"

"Was…was the other one's name Uri?" Yami was nervous now. What if this Uri was his friend? That would mean he left a friend to die with a knife wound.

French Fry was confused. How could someone not know the name of their own friend? "Um…no, but I think that's close. Let me think…Yumi? No. Yuhi? No Yugi? Yugi! That was his name!"

You're probably wondering why French Fry could remember Yugi's name. Well, that's because no one was in the In-Between was affected by Azrael's catch. Forgotten can't forget others or things because _they_ know what it's like not to be remembered. Of course, all though Yami didn't realize it, he was also a part of the In-Between. Or, his _name_ was.

His true name held all of Yami memories of Yugi, only willing to let them go at Aibou's name, which was one reason Suha told Yami Yugi's name was Uri. So when French Fry uttered Yugi's true name, memories poured themselves back into Yami's heart. Yami fell to the ground, his heart about to explode in pain. Tears freely fell from Yami's eyes as he realized what he had done to his Hikari. Yugi's limp body was engraved into Yami's memory with new meaning and the hug he hadn't returned left the spirit hugging himself in an attempt to keep from falling apart.

"Yami. What's wrong?" Amane asked as she squeezed her teddy bear.

"I left him…I left him as he lay dying on the ground. How could I forget my little Aibou?"

"Who?"

Yami turned toward Amane and choked out, "Yugi."

"Who's Yugi? Why does his name cause my heart pain?" Amane squeezed her teddy even harder as she tried to ease the pain. She didn't understand what was going on and she wanted it to stop.

"Because he's our friend" Yami said sadly. "He's my brother, and I left him in the hands of-" Yami gasped. He had left Yugi in the hands of Suha!

"French Fry, is that normal?" Ryo asked. Yami looked at Ryo and saw him point in the direction of the castle.

"Uh…no. I've heard of it happening only once before when Azrael first came to stay in the In-Between. I wonder what it could mean…"

Yami looked at the castle and saw dark, menacing clouds form around the tall structure. Yami connected all the information he had gathered since the duel between he and Azrael started and French Fry's comment and felt his heart crumple. Yami jumped up and ran towards the castle.

"Where are you going?" Ryo called out.

"I have to save Yugi before Suha makes him Azrael's replacement!"

"What?"

"Just go to the portal, Ryo!"

Ryo and Amane stood frozen, but French Fry knew that Yami wasn't suggesting that the two siblings go back to Earth. French Fry picked Amane up around the waist and pushed Ryo forward, saying, "Come on! Come on! Let's go!"

"But…" Amane argued.

"No buts! Yami'll be fine! Don't you believe in him?"

Ryo then stopped fighting French Fry and ran in the direction of the portal, thinking, _"I don't know who this Yugi is, but I hope Yami saves him anyway! He sounded very important to both Amane and the Pharaoh, and I can't help but feel sad knowing he might be taken away. Please come back safely both of you." _

_Couple of quick notes: A) Sorry if the duel ended too quickly, but not all duels have to be super long. Plus I'm pretty sure Suha wanted Yami to lose anyway. B) The name Suha gives Yugi, Uri, means "My light". I figured this was Suha's way of saying "Yugi's mine now. He's no longer your light Yami."_

_Sarah: Done?_

_...Yes?_

_Sarah: Good. Review reply time!_

_There were a lot this time!_

_Sarah: To **Yam-Chan**, I'm pretty sure YamiHeart planned it so everyone either hated or loved Azrael but then pitied him in the end._

_Well...I didn't until a week or so ago...^^;_

_Sarah: To **Assassin Massie**, Well, Meimei is going to have to learn to SHARE!_

_But you never share anythign except mean comments. -_-_

_Sarah: To **R.**, I think YamiHeart just stuck Yugi in a dark room._

_Heh...pretty much..._

_Sarah: To **A Perplexing Puzzle**, You ARE perplexing. You actually like YamiHeart's plot AND you thanked her for updating so quickly? Crazy..._

_How many times must I tell you people like my stories?_

_Sarah: To **DarkChao1663**, Suha is quite fun, isn't she?_

_*SIGH* Sarah...she wasn't supposed to be someone you want to be best friends with!_

_Sarah: To **Kairi**, BWAHAHAHAHA! If it weren't for Yami's name being lost, Yugi'd be forgotten forever! Some trump card he played._

_I know...I know..._

_Sarah: To **DarkHeartInTheSky**, Another sucker who thought Yami was going to save the day._

_If you think about it...I guess French Fry did more than Yami. Whoops... *~*_

_Sarah: To **ThiefOfHearts**, *CATCHES KNIFE* Luna, don't you think it's time for YamiHeart to get a taste of her own medicine? *LOOKS AT YAMIHEART'S BACK*_

_Uh...I think that's all the time we have for now._

_Sarah: No it's not._

_Um...PLEASE COMMENT! I like reading them. I also enjoy living._

_Sarah: Hm... This knife likes cutting. Are you going to deny it the right to stab you?_

_IF IT KILLS ME!_

_Sarah: Oh...well I can't guarantee you WON'T die..._

_*SIGH* I hope to see you all next time..._

_Sarah: What happens if I just gouged out your eyes?_

_*COVERS EYES* NO!_

_Bye. _


	11. Chapter 11

_Sarah: I bet you're all wondering where YamiHeart is. Well, I KILLED HER! BWAHAHAHAHA! I found out I don't have to do the disclaimer every chapter and I killed her for it. Plus, I want Yugi to *COUGH* stop being hurt *COUGH*._

_Must. Write. FanFic._

_Sarah: AHHHHHHHHHHHH! YamiHeart has turned into a mummy who has come back from the dead to write this FanFic!_

_Why...does that...sound so pitiful? *TYPE TYPE TYPE*_

_Sarah: Must kill! *HOLDS UP BAT*_

_Police: FREEZE!_

_Sarah: WHAT?_

_Please enjoy chapter...11._

_Sarah: Let me go!_

_Police: Stop struggling and come quietly! You are under arrest for murder!_

_*SIGH* *TYPE TYPE TYPE*_

* * *

Yugi felt himself drift. He didn't know where he was drifting to and he didn't care. He felt as though his heart and been ripped from his chest and stabbed until it was a mushy pulp. Why had Yami not recognized him? Did…did Yami no longer have a need for Yugi since they had separate bodies thanks to Azrael? It…it couldn't be that, could it? Yami always promised him that their bond was more than simply host and guardian and closer to that of two brothers like the Kaibas. But…that still didn't explain Yami's strange behavior…

"_You're so hurt…"_ The woman's voice broke Yugi's thoughts, but in a good way. Her voice was so soothing…

"_Who are you?"_ Yugi had tried to form words, but instead his thoughts just amplified so they could be heard by the mysterious women.

"_Little Uri, do you not remember me?"_ Yugi was confused. Was he supposed to be Uri or… _"Ah…you still hold onto that painful past. You believe Yugi is your name."_

"_It-It isn't?"_

"_Oh, it was. But I've changed it."_

The woman's voice wasn't as soothing anymore. It scared Yugi to know that someone had just changed who he was.

"_Where…where's Yami?" _Yugi asked. At first he wasn't sure if he wanted to know, but then he realized how horrible he would feel to know something had happened to the pharaoh.

"_He's long gone. Didn't even look back when he went back to Earth with Ryo and Amane."_

Yugi felt like he was going to cry. Sure, Yami wasn't hurt, but now Yugi knew for sure that the spirit had forgotten him. Yami had left him behind, left him to die in the In-Between. Yugi had been so confident that Yami would rescue him and was ecstatic when he saw his other half in the place were forgotten things roamed. But now…

Yugi felt comforting arms embrace him and make an almost silent "Shhhh" noise as the actuality of the situation branded itself into the young boys mind.

"_My poor little Uri…don't worry, Suha will make it all better. Suha will take away all the pain. Would Uri like that?"_ Suha asked.

Yugi hadn't realized his eyes had been closed until he had to open them. Once he did, he saw the soft face of a woman with long, black hair and eyes like stars. Both of them were surrounded in a sort of fog that didn't let Yugi see very far. The woman, Suha, was cradling him in her arms and Yugi didn't think it was possible to feel more at ease. Then, Yami's face flashed before Yugi's eyes and a few tears escaped his eyes.

"_What…what would I have to do?" _Yugi, no, Uri asked.

"_Let me, Suha, put you back into your body."_

"_But…"_ Uri recalled how he had been stabbed in the back. He didn't want to relive that pain over again.

"_Don't fret, I fixed it up. Your body is all better now. No more pain…"_

"_What about this pain?" _Yugi's eyes started to drift shut again from how safe he felt in Suha's arms as he grabbed the area of his chest over his heart.

"_That spirit hurt you that much, huh? Poor, poor Uri." _Suha held Uri closer to her as she stroked his back. _"Would you like me to wipe your memories of him, of all of your 'friends'?"_

Yugi tensed up and pushed away from Suha. Just because Yami had hurt him didn't mean he wanted his memories erased!

"_No!" _Yugi shouted in protest.

Suha's grip tightened warningly. _"Now Uri, he's already forgotten about you, they all have."_

"_All the more reason for me not to forget them! Yami is a part of me, and my friends are my life!"_

Yugi finally broke free of Suha's grip and backed away. Suha's eyes narrowed dangerously and her voice wasn't so kind anymore.

"_Uri, you can either make this easy or difficult for yourself. Just let me bring you back to your body in the In-Between." _

"_Then what? And stop calling me that! My name is Yugi Mutou and…and…"_

"_Uri, this 'Yugi Mutou' no longer exists." _Suha's voice was back to comforting and her eyes no longer had that dangerous edge in them. _"He has been wiped from the face of the Earth. No one remembers him, there is no record of his birth or accomplishments. He has been _forgotten_."_

The word "forgotten" hit Yugi hard and he found himself falling to his knees and wrapping his arms around his torso. Suha approached him gracefully and knelt down until she was at his eye level.

"_I'm giving you the chance to be reborn as Uri, to forget all those people who have hurt you, to finally be at ease once again. Now, come back with me to the In-Between."_

Suha stood up and outstretched her hand to Yugi. Yugi looked up at Suha and said, _"No."_

Suha was shocked. _"What?"_

"_I don't want to forget the people who've caused me pain because they've made me who I am today. Yami, Ryo, Amane, Grandpa, Seto, Anzu, Honda, Jonouchi. All of them are a part of me I can never let go of. I am Yugi Mutou and I will never be Uri. Never."_

Yugi stood up confidently, his eyes gleaming with realization. He didn't care about the pain. Even if his friends forgot him in their minds, he knew they would always remember him in their hearts. That was enough to keep Yugi from becoming what Suha wanted him to be and it was enough to make the pain fade away.

Suha snatched her hand away and began to completely transform. The fog began to move around the two of them as Suha's entire form became like that of a monster from a horror film. The miscellaneous pieces that formed her clothing fell off and were replaced with jagged, bleeding rocks. Her skin turned reptile-like and her eyes turned to crimson. Her mouth smiled wickedly to reveal sharp fangs and her nails grew into claws. The only thing that didn't change was her hair that remained long and black. Yugi stood frozen by the sudden change in the woman's appearance.

"_Fine. I'll bring you back the hard way!"_ Suha lunged at Yugi and grabbed his shoulders.

Yugi fell backwards, but found that he never hit the ground. Instead, he found himself falling through layers of clouds. Yugi fought against Suha, causing his descent to slow slightly. In response to his fighting, Suha dug her nails into Yugi's shoulders. Yugi let out a cry of pain and Suha cackled.

"_Just give up Uri! You're mine now!"_

"_Yami!" _Yugi cried out. _"Yami, help!"_

"_Why? Why do you continue to hope for his return? He is gone! He doesn't need you! No one does! Just give in and be mine!"_

Yugi stopped fighting back so hard. Why _did_ he continue to try? Yami couldn't hear him, and even if the spirit did it wouldn't matter. Yami would probably dismiss Yugi's desperate cries as the wind or something and continue on like nothing unusual had happened. It then dawned on Yugi how lonely he truly was. No one was coming to save him, so why bother fighting?

Suha sensed immediately Yugi's defeat and pushed him harder, a smile spreading across her face until it reached both her ears. She had won, she was going to have a new mind to feed on, and no one could stop her.

The clouds began to clear up and Uri's fixed body could now be seen. Suha went in for the kill and pushed with all her might.

* * *

All Yami did was run. He ran and ran with the only thought in his head being, _"I'm sorry Yugi."_

When Yami entered the castle he semi-noticed that the maze he and Ryo had first gone through had returned and was even more complicated. He would never have been able to go forward if he hadn't felt Yugi's presence far above him. Yami continued to run and take all the right turns and stair cases necessary to get to his destination.

If possible, the maze seemed to get angry at Yami's success and began to become more complicated. Yami, however, paid no mind to the change in difficulty and continued to advance at a constant pace. Finally, Yami recognized the hallway he had seen Amane's room in and, remembering the young girl's earlier instructions, took two lefts and five rights to come to Azrael's room.

Yami came into the room and was horrified to see the angry clouds from outside had entered the room and seemed to be hovering around Yugi's body. Suddenly, two forms emerged from the clouds and Yami gasped when he saw Yugi being pushed down by a grotesque monster. Yami remembered how Suha had said she had recreated Azrael's body and placed his soul inside of it so that she could feed on his sanity.

"Yugi!" Yami yelled out in fear for his partner's safety.

Both Yugi and the monster's heads shot over to look Yami. Yugi's eyes widened in joy at seeing his other half. He had come back! He said his name! He remembered him!

"Yami!" Yugi exclaimed.

The monster glared at the spirit and laughed. _"I don't know how you retrieved your memories, but no matter. You're too late anyway, Pharaoh!"_

Suha once again pushed down on Yugi, but this time he fought back. Yugi fought back with all his strength, and he was winning.

Suha frowned. She couldn't lose the child now; she could never find a replacement in time! Unless…would it work? Suha had little choice but to try.

"_Get him!" _Suha commanded.

The clouds swirled and shot towards Yami. He tried to run, but the clouds were much faster and had grabbed as soon as he turned around.

"No!" Yugi cried out. He couldn't let Suha take Yami!

"_Go back into your body like a nice little boy and I'll let him go." _Suha said. She grinned. Her plan was working.

"Don't do it Yugi!" Yami yelled as he struggled to get out of the cloud's grip. Yami was going to say more when the cloud wrapped itself around his mouth.

"_You better hurry, or I'll take his soul instead, Uri." _Suha threatened. Another round of muffled protests came from Yami when he heard Suha call Yugi Uri, but Yugi wasn't listening anymore.

Yugi looked over at Yami with a sad smile. "Thank you Yami, for coming back."

Yami just about had a heart attack. Yugi couldn't do this, but that didn't mean he wouldn't. Yami knew his hikari all too well, which scared him. It scared the Pharaoh to know that he might lose his other half to this…witch.

Yugi stopped resisting for the last time.

Suha pushed down.

Yami screamed.

* * *

_Bun bun...BUN! Cliffhanger!_

_Sarah: *CRIKCET NOISES*_

_Oh yeah...she was arrested...I guess that means I have to do the review replys...okay then._

_To **R. N. Walker,** Sorry, I didn't mean to make it anticliamctic. ^^; I'm glad you still liked the chapter, though._

_To **Kairi**, Isn't it sad when it's a bad thing that Yami won?_

_To **Assassin Massie**, Heh heh...hope you don't mind another cliffhanger..._

_To **DarkHeartInTheSky**, Yeah...thanks about telling Sarah that. But I promise there are no hard feelings. _

_To **Writer Of The Light**, Thank. You. :) Epic is good._

_To **DarkChao1663**, Yes, yes it was irritating.^^_

_To **redglowingheart**, WOW! You are a reviewing machine! Thanks for so many!_

_To **A Perplexing Puzzle**, Gee, thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'll continue to write my crap.^^_

_To **ThiefOfHearts**, If you print out FanFic, then you can read it at school! I do it all the time. School is boring. ;P_

_Well...I guess that's it. I hope you review and-_

_Sarah: I ESCAPED! I ESCAPED! Wait...you did the review replys..._

_Um...yeah..._

_Sarah: I'm goign to kill you again!_

_EEP! Please review and please come back for the next chapter!_

_Sarah: Grrrrrrrrrrrr...Hee hee! YamiHeart doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!_

_Um...why are you...?_

_Sarah: Or a life._

_AIEEEEEE!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Hello!_

_Sarah: Okay, now I'm officially confused._

_Why?_

_Sarah: I'm trying to figure out why you commented on your own story saying it sucked._

_*GASP* MY HATER CAME BACK! XD_

_Sarah: What?_

_My hater! They keep writing themselves as other people, like A Perplexing Puzzle and now YamiHeart. I can't believe they came back! I'm SO excited!_

_Sarah: Why the H*** would you be excited about that?_

_Because, all the best authors have someone who positively hates them and everything they write. I never thought _I'd_ get one!_

_Sarah: -_-_

_Oh! Hater, if you're reading this, can you call yourself something like "#1 Hater" so that you don't have to use other people's names?_

_Sarah: They hate you! Why would they listen to you?_

_I dun know._

_Sarah: *SIGH* I give up on you._

_Anyway, please enjoy chapter 12!^^_

_

* * *

_

Out of complete fear and panic, Yami lost it. The puzzle exploded in a sea of shadows that cut through the clouds restraining the spirit and pried Suha's claws off of Yugi. Yugi was thrown only a couple centimeters from his fixed-up body as a chilling familiarity crept over him. The shadows began to paint the walls and surround the three individuals in a place known as the Shadow Realm.

Yugi's eyes grew in fear. He thought the pharaoh had decided not to use the Shadow Realm anymore! What was he thinking?

"_What is going on?"_ Suha demanded. _"Where did theses shadows come from?"_

"Me." Yami stated. Yugi didn't like the tone of voice his other half was using.

Both Yugi and Suha turned to Yami to see him practically seething with anger. His glaring eyes held a dangerous, red glint and his fists were shaking at his sides in anger. Yugi was scared, even more scared then when Suha had tried to push him into his body. Suha, on the other hand, laughed manically.

"_Didn't know you had the guts to pull something like this. So, what's your next move?"_ Suha asked smugly.

"Up for a game?"

"Yami! No!" Yugi cried out. Neither Suha nor Yami reacted to Yugi's plea, almost as if they couldn't hear him.

"_Why? What do I get out of it?" _Suha's voice was at a monotone and it was hard to tell if she was truly interested.

"It's all or nothing. I win, I get Yugi back."

"_And if _I_ win?"_

"Yami!" Yugi tried again, but his shout continued to fall on deaf ears for some reason.

"Hmph. Is it not obvious?"

Suha chuckled. _"My, you are in such a playful mood today. Fine, I accept. Name the game."_

Yugi just stared in shock and disbelief. Had…had he lost Yami again? Last time the spirit had forgotten Yugi, but now had Yami forgotten himself?

Yugi wanted to run towards his other half and shake him out of it, but Yugi could already feel the toll of the Shadow Realm on his soul. Things were happening quicker than usual because of Yugi's lack of body. He hugged himself and looked at the body Suha had repaired. Maybe he could step inside, just for a second.

"It's a game I'm sure you'll be quite good at, Suha." Yami announced as he produced a deck of duel monster cards in his hand. "Memory."

A table materialized between Suha and Yami and the two approached it so that they were facing each other. Yami shuffled the deck as he explained the rules.

"There will be 49 cards on the table; seven row of seven."

"_But that would leave one card left over."_ Suha pointed out.

Yami smirked. "Yes, it does. That's because if you pick this card," Yami held up a card that on the reverse side was pitch black. "You automatically lose."

"_I see…even if I am good at remembering things, if I have horrible luck, I lose."_

Yami returned the card to the deck and shuffled thoroughly. He then laid the cards out on the table with seven rows of seven, just as he said. Yami motioned for Suha to go first, but she shook her head.

"_You're forgetting something."_

Yami raised his eyebrow in confusion. "And that would be…?"

Yugi hesitantly reached his hand out towards his fixed body. His eyes were closed and his face was so peaceful it looked as though his body were merely sleeping. Just before Yugi touched his body, his hand hit glass. He then felt himself suddenly lifted into the air in a glass box over the table Suha and Yami were standing at. Yugi looked down and saw Suha's cocky grin. He looked over to see Yami's horrified face.

Suha laughed.

"_What? Did you hope that while we played our game he'd just escape from the In-Between and be home free? Perhaps your hard-hearted act fooled Uri, but not me."_

Yugi pressed his hands to the glass and asked, "Is that true, Yami?"

Yami frowned. "I can't hear you Yugi, but I have a feeling I know what you're saying. I'm sorry Yugi. At first I truly did lose it, but when I started to think rationally again, I figured at least this way I had one more chance to save you. Please understand, I-"

"_It doesn't matter whether he forgives you or not. The game has been initiated and there's no turning back now." _Suha stated as she tapped two of the cards on the table.

The cards flipped themselves over to reveal two Injection Fairy Lily's. Both Yami and Yugi's eyes widened at Suha's incredible luck. The cards lifted into the air and flew over to Suha's side of the field.

"_Looks like even luck is on my side, nameless pharaoh."_

Yami felt doubt and fear creep into his mind as he looked at the 47 remaining cards. Did he have what it took to pull off what Suha just had? And what about that one black card that lingered among all the others that would automatically declare him the loser? What if that was the very first one he picked? What if…

Yami was snapped out of his train of thought by the sound of tapping on glass. Yami looked up to see Yugi's smiling face and a thumbs up. Yami smiled, knowing that that was Yugi's way of saying he believed in the ancient spirit. Yami's confidence returned and he tapped two cards.

Dark Magician and Dark Magician.

Suha's eyes were practically bulging out of her head, Yami's smirk returned, and Yugi silently cheered.

"Hate to burst your bubble, Suha, but I think luck is just as much on my side as yours." Yami stated smugly. Suha snarled.

The game continued on. Sometimes Yami got one, sometimes Suha. Sometimes neither of them got a pair, but such stand stills did not last long. The glass case Yugi was inside of blocked him off from Yami even more and so the ancient spirit felt nothing of Yugi's inner battles.

Not only did Yugi have to keep from slipping into the shadows, but also from another force. Death itself was tugging at Yugi's exposed soul, trying to get the young boy to fall into eternal slumber. After all, Yugi had technically died. Suha had just kept him hidden from Death's searching gaze, and now that Death and found Yugi, it wasn't planning on letting go. Yugi tried his hardest to keep his eyes open and not make it obvious that he was struggling, but even with Yami and Suha's occasional glances the two ancient spirits could tell the prize was slipping away.

Finally, there were only three cards left, and it was Yami's turn. Yugi was leaning against one of the corners of the cube, his heart twisting and his breathing ragged. Yugi's eyes were barely open, but he pushed himself to watch the outcome of the game.

Suha laughed maniacally. _"You might as well give up now! Your chances aren't very high. Funny how your game turned against you."_

Yami looked down at the board and was reminded of the shell game he and Ryuji had played when they first met. At first, one might think that Yami had only a one-in-three chance of picking the black card. But as soon as Yami picked his first card, if it wasn't the black one, Yami then had a remaining 50/50 of drawing the black card.

"You…can do it…Yami…" Yugi said weakly, forgetting Yami couldn't hear him.

Luckily though, Yami had looked up just in time to be able to read what Yugi had said and became extremely unnerved at how many pauses there were in Yugi sentence. Yami knew at that time that he had to act as quickly as possible and just let his instincts choose his cards. Yami closed his eyes and let his hand hover over the three remaining cards.

Suha giggled again. _"So, you don't even have the guts to see your defeat?"_

Yami ignored Suha's comment and tapped two of the cards. He cracked his eyes open slowly as he watched the cards flip themselves over and reveal two smiling faces of the Dark Magician Girl.

"_What?" _Suha shrieked as the two cards floated over to Yami's side and the last remaining card shot itself at Suha.

The black card positioned itself over Suha's heart (well… where it would be if she had one) and grew dark tentacles that consumed Suha in shadows. She struggled and screamed, but nothing she did could stop the shadows from taking the price of the duel. Yami watched and couldn't help but gulp when he thought about how that could have happened to him.

Once Suha was gone, the shadows began to fade and Yugi's glass container disappeared. Yugi was much too weak to even try to stop himself from plummeting to the ground, but Yami was fast enough to catch Yugi well before the threat of hitting the ground was a problem.

Yugi opened his eyes when he felt the warm sense of safety touch his soul and was afraid that he'd see Suha trying to cat motherly toward him again. Yugi was so happy when he saw Yami's smiling face that a couple tears fell from his eyes. The two embraced in a hug, and Yugi let himself fall into Yami's body.

"I guess it's a good thing Azrael gave us separate bodies in the end, huh?" Yami asked when he felt Yugi once again enter his heart. Yugi mumbled in agreement, still too weak to truly speak.

"Rest little one. I will get us back home." Yami said reassuringly. Yugi once again agreed and left into his soul room.

Suddenly, the castle started to shake and crumble, jolting Yami out of his happy reunion with Yugi. Yami turned to leave when he saw Azrael's ghost out of the corner of his eye.

Yami turned to see Azrael looking out his balcony from inside the room. Azrael turned to Yami and smiled before a giant rock came crashing down on the old king of the In-Between. The rock smashing Azrael woke Yami up and reminded him he had to get out of the crumbling building.

Yami ran out of the room and thanked Ra that the maze was no longer there to block his exit. The spirit quickly opened the door and jumped out just as a rock came crashing down on where he had been standing. Yami laid on the ground panting for a bit before another familiar face peeked into Yami's view.

"Hey, are you alright?" French Fry asked. "Did you save your friend?"

The once pharaoh nodded and smiled. "We're both fine."

"Um…where's the other guy?"

Yami sat up on his knees, grabbed his heart, and said, "Here."

French Fry gave him a bewildered look before shaking it off. "Anyway, both Ryo and Amane made it through to Earth."

"That's good. Thank you French Fry."

French Fry let out a hearty, belly laugh. "Don't sweat it. This is the most interesting thing to happen to me in a long time."

Suddenly, the clouds that had formed over the castle descended upon Yami and French Fry. The ancient spirit instantly tensed and jumped to his feet, ready to fight Suha if she had somehow managed to come back. French Fry just stood there, completely bewildered.

"**Do not fear, spirit of the puzzle." **A booming, male voice said from the cloud. Yami felt himself relax, as if he instantly trusted the voice. **"I have just come to thank you for getting rid of Suha."**

"Huh?" Yami asked.

"**Suha has always abused any power she has been given, but we could do nothing but give the witch her own dimension to mess with so that she would not hurt humans. Sadly, she still figured out how to mess with human affairs anyway."** Yami grunted in agreement, knowing all too well how much Suha had messed with humans. **"But now the world no longer has to worry about that demon and her medaling."**

"But…?" Yami asked, knowing there had to be more.

There was a pause before the voice spoke again. **"Well…now that Suha is gone, the In-Between will most likely collapse."**

"What?" Yami exclaimed.

"**And I have no idea how that will impact Earth since it's been around for so long."**

Yami was speechless. French Fry, on the other hand, wasn't.

"What if someone took Suha's place?" Yami in disbelief stared at French Fry's suggestion.

"…**I guess everything would be okay again."**

"Then I accept." French Fry said as he puffed out his chest. "I'll take over the In-Between. It's been kind to me, and now it's time for me to return the favor."

"But…but what if you end up like Suha? You know, eating people's sanity so you don't die…"

"**Actually, Suha would have done that whether she controlled the In-Between or not."**

"Oh. Is that another reason you hoped she wouldn't be able to get to humans?" Yami asked.

"**Yeah, that was one reason."**

"See Yami? No worries." French Fry said with a giant grin.

"**Well then, we better do this quickly. Are you ready?"**

French Fry looked to Yami, who sighed and nodded his head. French Fry looked up to the cloud with his fists on his hips and his stomach puffed out and said, "Yep."

The clouds descended upon French Fry and lifted him up into the sky. The clouds condensed and then expanded in a flash of light that traveled across the land. A deep, jolly laughter could be heard as the castle was rebuilt out of French fries. In random places French fries of all sizes popped up. Some of the shadow creatures from before slithered their ways out from the darkness and nibbled on the French fries. Shockingly, the shadows became more and more human like with every bite until no darkness remained in their forms. Yami was shocked.

"Who…who are you?" Yami asked the voice.

"**Heh. If one day you ever need to find out, you will. But for now, I must depart. Goodbye."** And with that, the voice's presence left and French Fry appeared in front of Yami.

French Fry's clothes were now completely white, even his beat up hat. Of course, the new clothes didn't change French Fry's jolly aura and his hair was still tangled and greasy.

"Well, I think it's time you two went home." French Fry said. "And don't worry about Yugi being forgotten; I reversed what Suha had done."

"I…I almost forgot after all that's happened." Yami said.

French Fry hit Yami's back hard and laughed. "No worries. As long as one of us remembers, right?"

"Right. And…thank you for everything French Fry. If it wasn't for you, I might have lost Yugi forever and never known it."

"Stop worrying and go back to where you belong. French Fry's got it all covered here."

And, with a wink, French Fry pushed Yami through a portal back to Earth.

"Have fun you two." French Fry said as the portal closed.

French Fry stood there for a second, digesting everything that had just happened when he heard a small bark from behind him. French Fry turned around to see a little Golden Lab puppy standing behind him with its mouth wide open and tail wagging.

"Well, hello there little guy." French Fry walked over to the puppy and picked it up. The puppy responded by licking French Fry's nose. French Fry chuckled. "Let's see what your name is, huh?"

French Fry looked at the tag that was on the puppy's collar and gasped when he saw the name written on there. Then French Fry laughed and laughed until he almost couldn't breathe.

"You know, Onion Ring, I always wanted a dog." Onion Ring licked French Fry again and the once hobo brought the puppy inside his palace.

* * *

_Um…if anything didn't make sense, PLEASE TELL ME! I won't even wait 'till the next chapter to try and explain it to you._

_Sarah: No one cares! They want me to reply to their comments!_

_:( O-Okay…_

_Sarah: To __**Writer Of The Light**__, Oh My Ra, if we keep getting cookies and other fantastical treats, I'm going to explode._

_That's because you keep eating them before I can get more than one!_

_Sarah: To __**DarkChao1663**__, Wasn't her new look just FABULOUS? :)_

_Um…that wasn't the point Sarah…_

_Sarah: To __**redglowingheart**__, You…you like CLIFFHANGERS? DX_

_YAY!^^_

_Sarah: To __**DarkHeartInTheSky,**__ I HAVE A SISTER? XD Ooooo, destroying the world will be fun…_

_NO! You two are staying as far away as possible!_

_Sarah: To __**Kairi**__, What did you say?_

_CALM DOWN SARAH! _

_Sarah: To __**Assassin Massie**__, BURNT COOKIES? *MUNCH MUNCH* Hm…not bad._

_I wouldn't know. -_-_

_Sarah: To __**ThiefOfHearts**__, Hey Luna, psst, we're meeting next Saturday._

_What?_

_Sarah: To __**R. N. Walker**__, I would kill her again if she wasn't so hard to keep dead…_

_Hey! That was mean!_

_Sarah: ANYWAY, hey. Have you noticed how many Yami's there are that are TOTALLY siding with me?_

_Yes, and it is extremely unnerving._

_Sarah: Well... you can make forums or something on here, right?_

_Yeah…_

_Sarah: Well…why not make a forum for us yami's to write stories?_

_BECAUSE I WANT THE WORLD TO STAY AROUND FOR A WHILE!_

_Sarah: If anyone wants to leave a comment and tell ME, the person in control in this relationship,_

_*STICKS OUT TONGUE*_

_Sarah: Say so in your comment._

_I've left you all here for so long so, until next time, goodbye.^^ _


	13. Chapter 13

_I'M SORRY!_

_Sarah: Yeah, you better be! This is the _epilogue_ and it took you forever!_

_I got stuck on it and then I got busy and- aw, forget it. I'm sorry. _

_Sarah: You're hopeless._

_I know…Sarah?_

_Sarah: What?_

_Could you…um… do the disclaimer? Just for old times' sake?_

_Sarah: *SIGH* Fine. YamiHeart owns Yu-Gi-Oh like she owns your face! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_

_O.O…that was stupid. -_-_

_Sarah: SHUT UP!_

_Please enjoy the final chapter of Weakness.^^_

* * *

"Oof," Yami grunted as he landed on something much softer and whiter than the concrete sidewalk he had expected to fall on when he came out of the portal back to Earth outside.

"Ow…" A familiar British accent moaned. "Nice to see you too."

Embarrassed, Yami quickly got off Ryo and helped the young brit up. Not a second after Yami did this the two boys were both knocked back to the ground by hugs from Jonouchi and Honda. Jonouchi ruffled Yami's hair, Honda tried to cover up the happy tears he was crying, Anzu walked over shaking her head at Jonouchi and Honda's greeting, and Ryo swore he could feel every bone in his body breaking.

"I'm so glad to see ya again, Yami! But…um…where's Yug? He is alright, right?" Jonouchi asked as he yanked Yami up from Ryo, causing Honda to fall on the poor kid again. More shouts of protest probably would have come from Honda if he hadn't been as anxious as Jou to find out if their little buddy was all right.

Yami smiled, partially because he was glad to no longer be crushing Ryo, partially because French Fry hadn't been lying when he said his friend's memories had been restored, and partially because Yami was glad to easily be able to answer Jounouchi's question.

"Right there," a mystery girl said as she appeared out of nowhere and poked Yami's heart.

The spirit of the puzzle was dumbfounded at the girl's arrival and wasn't quite sure who she was until he saw the familiar foggy eyes he had seen on the little toddler in Azrael's castle.

"A-Amane?" Yami asked.

The girl smiled up at Yami before turning around and literally kicking Honda off poor, itty-bitty Ryo. The girl was wearing decent sized heals so it really hurt. She outstretched her hand to Ryo, who gratefully took it.

After the girl made sure Ryo was okay, the white haired boy turned to Yami and said, "Um…Pharaoh. This is my fifteen-year-old sister Amane."

The now fifteen-year-old version of the small girl waved at the ancient spirit shyly. Her blonde hair fell to the middle of her back and a warm smile. She wore a lavender summer dress that went a little past he knees and had healed sandals on her feet. No one could deny she was pretty, but the sudden change confused Yami.

"How did she get…?"

"Older?" Ryo finished for Yami. "Well, she was technically fifteen when we found her, she just never aged. But when we came back-"

"I grew up! So I needed clothes and bog brother Ryo went shopping with me and got me bras and pan-" Anzu quickly sprinted over to Amane and covered her mouth.

"Now Amane, remember about that girl talk we had?" Anzu asked. Amane's eyes widened and then she nodded.

Amane took Anzu's hand off of her mouth and said, "Oh yeah! There are some things guys don't want to here!" Amane giggled. "Sorry, I'm a bit new at all of this."

Yami smiled but didn't know what else to do. Usually Yugi was the one who talked with everyone, but Yugi was in no condition to take over just because Yami felt uncomfortable. So, Yami improvised.

"Well, it's great seeing you all, but both Yugi and I could use some rest so…"

"Of course!" Jonouchi exclaimed. "We can hang out afta ya two rest up."

Honda looked guilty. "Oh geez, sorry for keeping you. I'm sure you're exhausted."

Yami chuckled. "It's no problem, really. Goodbye." He turned around and walked away as everyone waved and said their own farewells. The ancient Pharaoh smiled, glad that everything was alright. Even Yugi was awake long enough to give off a feeling of ease at finally being back where he belonged.

But somewhere far, far away a woman was screaming in the shadows. Most of her words were incomprehensible, but one sentence was crystal clear.

"_Where's my Uri? What has he done to my Uri? I'll get him back! I'll get him back!"_

* * *

_Well, that's then end of Weakness. _

_Sarah: It took you forever to update and your epilogue is that short?_

_AUGH! I know, I know! I'm sorry!_

_Sarah: I'm doing these review replies and apologizing to every one of your readers!_

_But Sarah! Wait! I have an important announcement! I-_

_Sarah: To __**A Perplexing Puzzle**__: I think we already apologized to you but if we didn't, YH is sorry._

_Lo siento._

_Sarah: To __**aminaluvr4life**__: Yes, French Fry is a freakingly weird character. I KNOW! I'm glad someone sees what I see._

_But I can't help but love him…^^;_

_Sarah: To __**Kairi**__: Wow. Sorry about how LAZY my hikari is. You even begged for a quick update and she totally ignored you._

_NOT TRUE! I-I-I just got stuck! D:_

_Sarah: To __**R. N. Walker**__: This has nothing to do with your comment, but I'm just saying it is really hard to write your name for review replies! It doesn't like to show up sometimes…_

_And I'm glad the last chapter was worth the wait.^^_

_Sarah: To __**For the Lulz of It**__: Um…your comment made YH teary eyed._

_*SNIFF* Th-thank you!_

_Sarah: To __**redglowingheart**__: Yay! Killing people! X)_

_And what I was going to say before Sarah interrupted me to do review replies was-_

_Sarah: To __**ThiefOfHearts**__: Yeah, you're comment also made YH cry with pride._

_It's so nice to have such loyal fans…:.)_

_Sarah: To __**DarkHeartInTheSky**__: I want to meet you too! And I want a hikari who doesn't whine…*SIGH* I guess I'll never get what I want…_

_Hey!_

_Sarah:…you do this one._

_Why-oh. Yeah sure. To __**RedBootonPatrol**__ *cue ominous music*: Thank you. You are entitled to your own opinions and I will respect them as long as your comments are respectful. But…A) It's creepy to know you're pretty much stalking me and B) WHAT IS A BOOTON? It's been driving me insane trying to figure it out. :/_

_Sarah: Enough time on that…_

_Agreed._

_Sarah: To __**Assassin Massie**__: You mean like Coleslaw or Fresh Fruit?_

_Hm…maybe I should use those. Meh, IDK._

_Sarah: To __**tasunaki oku**__: Um…thank you?_

_Yes, thank you. NOW, CAN I SAY WHAT I WANTED TO SAY?_

_Sarah: You wanted to say something?_

_YES! I was going to say there's going to be a sequel!_

_Sarah (and I presume RedBootonPatrol;)): WHAT?_

_Yep.^^ And because the epilogue was so short, I'm going to give a sneak peak!_

_Sarah: Oh Ra no…_

_Yep.^^ Still working on the title, but please enjoy this sneak peak of the sequel to Weakness!_

_

* * *

_

Yugi lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling with a lost look in his eye. How long had it been since Atem had left? A month? Yeah, about a month.

Yugi felt a pang in his heart as he thought about his lost other half, but then felt guilty. Atem had to go, he _had _to. So…why was he afraid? Afraid of facing the world without the person who had given him that world? Before Atem, Yugi had been alone. After Atem Yugi had tons of friends and people who cared about him. But now that Atem had left, even with all those people, somewhere deep inside he felt lonely.

A knock came from Yugi's closed door. Then a, "Yugi? Can I come in?"

The knock had scared Yugi, but once he heard his grandfather's voice he was put at ease. The young teen sat up and said, "Yeah, go ahead Grandpa."

The door creaked open and an old man in his eighties stood in the door way wearing green overalls and an orange bandana. His old, purple eyes shone with worry towards his teenage grandson as he said, "Are you alright?"

Yugi sighed. How many times in the past month had he been asked that? "Yes, I'm fine Grandpa."

But was that true…?

This time Grandpa sighed, but in relief. "That's good to hear. Well, dinner will be ready in about 30 minutes."

Yugi smiled, even though he honestly didn't feel like doing so. "Sounds great."

Grandpa smiled back and left the doorway, closing the door behind him. Yugi fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes. Didn't anyone trust him to be grown up about this? It had been a whole month! He was over it! Happy to know his best friend was where he belonged!

"Who am I kidding?" Yugi turned over so that his face was in the pillow. "I'm the most selfish person on Earth…of _course_ I miss him."

"_Tsk, tsk."_ Yugi's head bolted up. He _knew_ that voice, but he definitely wasn't happy to hear it. _"Has that wicked Pharaoh caused my Uri pain again?"_


End file.
